Dragon Ball Newcomers
by KrunkSauce
Summary: Okara, a saiyan who at age 5 escaped Planet Vegeta's destruction, is thrown into an Earth where Vegeta, Goku, and Piccolo have passed away, leaving the job of protecting Earth to their descendants. What challenges could possibly await this unknown saiyan? Who are these new successors of our old, cherished heroes? How will they react to this new saiyan? Find out, next time on DBN!
1. Prologue Pt 1: The Two Saiyans

**Age 737. Less than an hour until Planet Vegeta's destruction.**

It was in this year that destiny had decided to choose a savior. A mere mortal whose name would be echoed throughout the multiverse. Fate had chosen a saiyan child. Fate had chosen Kakarot.

But fate had picked another.

"So… Korge, huh?" said one of the soldiers, inspecting the long haired infant who was currently taking a nap. "Korge isn't a common name. Makes sense… Says here he's middle class. You don't see many middle or high class saiyans much, anymore. Most of the time it's just the low class that you see."

"True that. I heard from Aodi that the saiyans had so many low class that Vegeta had decided to send, like, fifteen to conquer _one_ planet. Isn't that crazy? Takes fifteen monkeys to conquer one planet. "

"Yeah, Vegeta's doing that with a lot of low class. Sending a bunch of them as a group to get one planet. Odd, eh?" The alien soldier inspected his clipboard. "Let's see here… off to Planet 2,843 you go, little one. Should be a piece of cake. Says the planet's only lifeforms are immobile trees." He placed the baby in his pod and set coordinates for the ship, just like he had done countless of times before.

The pod flew off into the outer reaches of space. He was only two years of age when he was sent off. He was only two when his home planet had been obliterated. Still sleeping, the infant had only been awoken when something bumped into his ship.

 _Clang!_

His saiyan instinct forced him to immediately wake. He got up quickly and restlessly and went up to his circular window, curious to the cause of the noise. However, what he saw made him ease up. Another pod had bumped into his own, and in it, another saiyan infant, however this one still sleeping.

Kakarot.

Korge tilted his little head in confusion. He did not understand at the time, but as time would soon tell, these two infants were chosen. Both of them destined to be great and powerful heroes. Great and powerful heroes, however, separated by time.

Korge returned to his original position in his pod, now calm after the disturbance had settled. Both of the pods had then parted ways, and with them, the saiyans, off to forge each of their own futures.


	2. Prologue Pt 2: The Seeds of Fate

**Age 740.**

Korge's ship had arrived. He was five now. The pod had put him in a comatose state meanwhile feeding him the proper nutrients to endure the long journey. The saiyan boy was ready for battle.

After taking a few minutes to wake up, Korge quickly sat up. He was alert. Korge scrambled out of his pod, taking some time to analyze his new environment. He was surrounded. All around him were tall, massive trees that towered over him. Their sizes varied and they all were bent over him, as if they each one were looking down upon him. The trees were still, posing no harm to Korge. Korge, however, thought differently. Although the pod's technology had taught him basic knowledge through subliminal means, like the universal language, his mission to conquer planets, and his saiyan genetics, he was still only a child.

He ran towards the trees, and with everything he could muster, he tore them apart. Branch by branch and stick by stick, he destroyed them. Yet, for every tree he destroyed, he spotted another one. There were too many; he was in the middle of a forest, but the little saiyan had no idea. And so, he tore them apart, one after another. That was, until, he heard something.

 _ **Korge.**_

That was his name. His saiyan name. No one on this planet should have known his saiyan name, yet there he heard it, plain as day. And then he heard it again.

 _ **Korge, please.**_

He was confounded by this. Not only did something here know his name, and not only did it beg, but this was different. The noise that he heard was odd. In a way, he felt as if no one was speaking to him, yet he still heard something. It was as if…

It was in his head.

 _This… This is definitely not normal,_ Korge thought to himself. _I must be going insane. That's the only explanation for this. That means… I'm defective. I've already failed my mission. I need to go back, back to Vegeta. They'll fix me, somehow. They have to fix me, there has got to be a way to-_

 _ **Planet Vegeta is no more, Korge.**_

Korge turned around. He looked everywhere, everywhere around him for something, anything. He didn't want to believe that he had failed, and so in a fit of frustration, he yelled, "Who the hell are you?! Show yourself!"

 _ **We are all around you, Korge. We are right here. I am one of the many lifeforms that you see around you. You are not losing your mind.**_

Then he heard another voice.

 _ **They are right, Korge. Please, do not harm us anymore. We do not want to hurt you, friend.**_

This time, it sounded vaguely different from the last one. They sounded similar, as if the two voices had a familial connection to each other. However, Korge didn't care. He had had enough.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

He ran towards the nearest group of trees and destroyed them, just as he did before. He ripped them apart, one after the other. After destroying the group, he didn't hear the voices anymore.

That was, until, yet another different voice called out to him.

 _ **Please understand, Korge. Your home planet has been destroyed. You do not have to do this anymore. We will not and cannot hurt yo-**_

Korge didn't seem to care anymore. He massacred the trees, over and over again without saying a word. However, deep inside of himself, he had the feeling that they weren't lying. He had not received any messages or signals from the scouter than was kept in his pod, and he had not seen his home in three years. However, he didn't let his feelings get to him. He killed and killed, until he started to get tired. His ki reserves were starting to run out, and he knew that this would happen eventually. The child started to slow down, until, he had passed out. Once unconscious, the trees started to look over him.

…

 _ **He is… different… is he not?**_

…

 _ **I… don't know.**_

 _ **He is special. Very special. He has a chance to be different from all the others.**_

 _ **How intriguing.**_

 _ **We must take care of him.**_

…

 _ **He has a chance to be the one to end the cycle.**_

At last, it was morning. Korge sat up, yawning loudly. Almost immediately after he sat up, he noticed that he wasn't where he was yesterday. He was surrounded by leaves, grass, and dirt that formed a tent shaped structure around him. Underneath where he was lying before, he found that there had been thick, soft leaves planted right underneath his head, acting like what seemed to be a pillow.

Korge was confused. He had just slaughtered dozens of the trees of this planet, yet they provided shelter for him. They never even attempted to harm him, and had actually helped him.

Korge pondered his situation for a while, and then got up and walked out of his tent. As he thought, his situation had not changed. All around him were the trees, bent over him, watching.

 _ **Good morning, Korge.**_

"You… why would you-"

 _ **Yes, yes, we understand. Why would we provide you shelter?**_

"Y-Yes."

 _ **That is simple. You are unlike anyone we have ever seen before. You are different.**_

 _ **Yes. You are indeed different. Vastly different.**_

"Uh… How so?"

 _ **Come, Korge. We know that you are curious. Roam around this planet, explore our forest while we explain to you who we are.**_

Korge stopped in his tracks. He started to think about his situation.

 _These things… whatever they are, can't seem to hurt me… Well that's from what I know so far… For all I know, they could just be waiting for the right chance to strike. But… They had the perfect opportunity to yesterday, yet they didn't. Could they be waiting for something? For me to do something, or… what? Why would they let me-_

 _ **It is not very polite to talk about us like that while you are standing right in front of us, Korge.**_

"I told you to stay out of my head!"

 _ **I apologize, as that impossible for us to do. Come, Korge. Explore our forest. We cannot harm you.**_

Korge stopped, considered his options one last time, and then obliged. He started to walk through the forest.

 _ **Good. We thank you greatly for taking our request into account. Now, we understand that you are confused on the topic of who or what we are, am I correct?**_

"Uh-huh."

 _ **We are the Boreans, of the planet, Borea. This planet.**_

"…"

"That… didn't tell me a lot."

 _ **HA! Exactly! That was a funny joke, was it not?**_

"…Uhm…"

 _ **Please excuse Shiza. They are only a very young Borean at the moment, and so they still have a lot of maturing to do. They also should have also known that that joke would literally have not worked in any timeline possible.**_

 _ **That is incredibly ru-**_

"Shut up! I wanted to know more about you, and you make jokes?! Just tell me what I need to know or I'll blast you all to oblivion!"

 _ **Shiza, Doresshingu. You are both out of line. Stop communicating with the saiyan child.**_

 _ **Aw, man.**_

 _ **I am very sorry about that. My name is Kuruton. Like Shiza said, we are the Boreans of planet Borea. And as you could tell, we have the ability of telepathy.**_

"Yeah, about that… What the hell were you talking about when you said Vegeta had been destroyed? What's with the lies?"

 _ **Yes, yes. Those were not lies. Us Boreans… We are somewhat omniscient.**_

"What?!"

 _ **Indeed. When we are young, we only know a few things. As we grow older, we absorb more and more information. The past, the present, and the future of the multiverse is within our knowledge. That power grows as we grow, and we start discovering the mechanics of fate, and the wonders of the future.**_

"That's… incredible. But that also means… that…"

 _ **Yes. Planet Vegeta is destroyed. However, you barely know anything about what your race was like. The only details you know are that your race is a warrior race called the saiyans, and that you have to conquer planets. Am I correct?**_

"Yes. It doesn't bother me."

… _**Good.**_

"…You know it bothers me, though, don't you?"

… _ **That is correct. I will teach you about what your race was like, and everything that you will ever want or need to kn-**_

"No! That's… not what I want right now. What I want to know is how are you all so powerful? This huge amount of knowledge… is there anywhere that comes from?"

 _ **Actually, yes. Just keep on walking to find out.**_

Korge didn't even realize he was still walking. He was so enticed in their conversation that he forgot that the other trees, Shiza and Doresshingu had told him to walk in one direction for what he thought was no reason.

"Wait a minute. Did you- did Shiza and Doresshing- they knew that if I walked-"

 _ **Yes. They knew that if you had walked in this direction, you would find your answer to your current question. Nigh omniscience is pretty neat, is it not?**_

"Yeah. Wait… So you guys are all the trees, right?"

 _ **That is correct.**_

"But I've been passing through so many of them… Which one are you? Why aren't any other ones talking to me?"

 _ **That is simple. I am the tree that was to your far left when you first got out of your tent. I actually made the tent for you by controlling the plants around you. You are welcome, by the way.**_

"Oh… thanks."

 _ **Do not mention it. To answer your other question, we are all talking to you. We are all talking to you through me. We are all linked beings, and we possess, in a sense, a hive mind. They all hear you right now, and we are all saying the words that are being said right now.**_

"That's amazing. But, they all can talk for themselves, right?"

 _ **Yes. Actually, just for you, we shall do this.**_

And all at once, simultaneously after Kuruton had finished, Korge heard more than a billion voices say "hello" to him in his head.

 _ **Sorry if that was too loud. I just wanted to show you.**_

"No, don't apologize. That was pretty incredible."

"By the way, is there anything that keeps you all linked? And why do you all have such similar sounding voices? That's what really confused me when I came here."

 _ **Yes. And just as I predicted, your answer to this question and your previous question from minutes ago is in front of you.**_

Again, Korge had not been paying attention. However, what he saw in front of him amazed him even more.

It was a tree, however, it was far from ordinary. It was huge, almost as large as a moon. It's leaves and branches covered the sky, as if it became the sky itself. Korge was dumbfounded.

 **Greetings, Korge. It seems as if we have not formally met, yet I feel like we already have. I am Sugi, the Heart of Borea. I am the link that connects every single one of my children.**

"… Sugi, huh?"

Korge came down on one knee. He started to cry. "You probably already knew, but I want to tell you formally. Ever since I met Shiza and Dorresshingu, I've been feeling horrible for killing so many Boreans. I want to apologize and make amends. I swear on my life and everything that I have left that I will make it up to you."

 **Saiyan child, do not be in anguish. We all knew of your coming, and we all knew of the necessary sacrifices. We have already accepted your apology.**

"Th-Thank you. So much." Okara wiped the tears off, sniffling. "So, how are you linked? How does it work, exactly? You called the Boreans your… children?"

 **Yes, of course. Every day, many of my leaves fall off of my tree. The wind of this planet is naturally strong, so the wind blows my leaves across the entire planet. If you look around right now, you can see leaves throughout the air, flying.**

 **My leaves contain my seeds inside of them. After some time, the leaf decomposes, leaving the seed. The seed contains a certain amount of my infinite knowledge as well as a link, and so as it grows, so does the knowledge. Throughout a Borean's entire lifetime, it will always be linked to every other Borean, and me.**

"Fascinating."

Korge thought to himself for a while. After about fifteen minutes, he decided to speak.

"Is it possible for me to become a part of your planet, or your family? I want to prove to you and make it official that I'm no longer hostile in some way. I want to make it up to all of you."

 **Oh, Korge. You do not have to make anything up to us. There is a way, however, that will only lead to disappointment, saiyan child.**

"No. If there is a way, I _have_ to make it up to you. My saiyan honor won't allow me not to, and you know that."

 **Korge, do not take my warning lightly. Becoming ingrained into our family will only give you problems in the future. I will not stop you, but I want to make something clear. Are you really willing to carry that burden?**

"Always."

 **Then so be it.**

 **Please, if you will, come down on one knee.**

Korge followed his advice immediately. He then bowed his head.

 **Korge, saiyan child. You have asked permission to become a part of this family, to become a Borean. Your offer is accepted. You are now one of us. You will keep your saiyan roots, however, you will now have our roots, Borean roots.**

 **No longer will you be Korge of the saiyan race. I now name you Okara, the child of the Borean and saiyan race.**


	3. Prologue Pt 3: The Void in the Stars

**Age 807, Planet Earth. The day of the First Saiyan Invasion.**

"Say, Gonkuro… The fight down there is pretty intense, huh? I'm not even trying to sense anything, but I can feel their ki from all the way up here," said Shorts.

"Yeah! I bet that's my dad, kicking some saiyan butt!" exclaimed Gonkuro.

Today, on Kami's Lookout, two twelve year old boys were sparring with each other. Unfortunately, on that same day, a small army of refugee saiyans decided to attack Earth. To the Z fighters, this threat would have been nothing; however, there was a problem. Some of the Z Fighters had already passed away. The two boys knew this.

Shorts was nervous. He was an incredibly gifted boy, being born with an abnormally large power level and an IQ to match even Bulma Briefs, his grandmother, when she was as young as him. However, his gift of intelligence was sometimes a curse. This was one of those times. He knew that without Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, or Chiaotzu, the Z Fighters would have a tough time defeating the saiyans. Even with Korin, Yajirobe, Mr. Popo, and Jaco's added help, the Z Fighters were still going to face a lot of obstacles. And now, with Tienshinhan not even showing up for the battle…

o – o – o – o – o

"GOD DAMN IT!" yelled the saiyan woman in the orange and blue gi while fending off twelve saiyan warriors simultaneously.

"Pan! Don't waste unnecessary ki! That's how they got the others! Concentrate! We're so close to vict-"

As the mystical, white cat tried to coach Pan, he was struck in the back of his head by another saiyan warrior.

"KORIN!" Pan, while holding back her own eight opponents, turned her head to glare at the other saiyan. "You'll… YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!"

In a millisecond, the quarter-bred saiyan woman transformed. Her hair turned golden and it started to stick out. Her eyes changed color as well, turning into a shade of blue. This burst of ki immediately caused the twelve saiyans she was fighting to fly off of her. The opponent she faced now prepared for the worst.

She charged at him with all her might, preparing a punch that would decimate any normal saiyan. However, it did not land. Instead, before she could have hit him, a sword of a highly advanced metal impaled the saiyan from behind. It was Trunks.

Pan powered down, but was still in a state of panic. Trunks threw the saiyan off of his sword and both of them looked down at Korin.

"Is… is he…?"

In the midst of battle, Trunks put his index and middle fingers on Korin's upper neck. He looked down and waited, yet nothing came from it. In the calmest tone he could muster, Trunks said to Pan, "Go. I'll make sure Korin's okay. Just go, finish the fight."

Pan nodded slowly, but, she didn't believe him. She started to walk off slowly, but she still kept her gaze fixed on Korin. Trunks started to lose his patience. "I said, GO!" With these words, Pan flew off, making sure that there were no invading saiyans left who weren't captured or unconscious.

After seeing Pan had gone, Trunks immediately took action. He placed both of his hands on Korin's chest, charged up ki, and pounded. He pounded over and over, but to no avail. "Work, damn it, Work!" The blue haired warrior knew he wasn't supposed to kill the saiyans, but he just couldn't help it. Deep down, when he saw what had initially happened, he knew that that punch was too much for Korin to handle. After more than five minutes of failed CPR, the sword bearer gave up. Trunks cried out streams of tears as he threw himself over the deceased master. He couldn't take it anymore.

Everyone had already lost so much.

o – o – o – o – o

"Gonkuro… aren't you worried?"

Upon hearing this, Gonkuro stopped sparring with Shorts. He was starting to get confused.

"About what?"

"The invasion."

Gonkuro chuckled. "Uhm… I don't see your point. Why should I be worried?"

"But… You see, I've done the numbers in my head." Shorts started to pace the lookout. "The saiyans came today, with no warning signs at all. No one was prepared for this. And there are more than four-hundred saiyans out there."

"And… your point is?"

"My point is I don't think we'll win without casualties, Gonkuro! I don't!" Shorts looked towards Gonkuro, his eyes beginning to water. The black haired boy didn't notice while sparring that his best friend had started to cry. He was oblivious to this fact, and also confused to why his friend was even crying in the first place.

"Tien never showed up, so all we have are Krillin, Yamcha, Korin, Jaco, Yajirobe, 18, Gohan, Pan, and our dads to fight them. But, even with them, and even with the Namekians coming to help… We can definitely win, but…"

Shorts started to sob. "I… I… I can't see any way they could all survive!" The blue haired boy cried, leaping into Gonkuro's arms. As they embraced, Gonkuro was still puzzled by Shorts's sadness.

"Hey… I get that you're sad and all, but you really don't need to worry!"

"I… I don't?" Shorts said as he wiped away his tears.

"Of course not! And do ya know why?"

"…Why?"

As Gonkuro saw his closest friend stop sobbing, he had a beaming smile on his face. "Because they're the Z Fighters! They never lose! Think about it Shorts. In the face of any danger, when have they lost? Remember in all of those stories?"

"…Yeah."

"Remember how they overcame all the odds, no matter what?" Gonkuro started to stand up straighter, putting his hands on his waist.

"Yeah."

"Raditz, Nappa, Frieza, Cell, Majin Buu, Beerus, Black, Jiren… Don't you remember? Don't you remember how they beat all of them, even when they had a tiny chance of even making it out alive? Remember?" 

"Yeah!"

Gonkuro raised up his right fist and looked at Shorts. "Do the thing!" Nodding with a smile, Shorts also raised up his fist.

"The Z Fighters are the best!"

"They never lose!"

"They _can't_ lose!"

"They're the best team ever!"

" _And we're Z Fighters, too_!" 

"Together now!" exclaimed Gonkuro, happily. Both of the boys then charged their fists at each other's respective fists, and collided them together, making a shockwave that knocked them both onto the floor. They both chuckled, high fiving each other. "That was sick." They both laid there on Kami's Lookout for a few minutes before Gonkuro ended the silence.

"Shorts?"

"Yeah?"

"You feel better?"

"Yeah, dude!"

"Awesome." Gonkuro nudged Shorts. "I promise to you with everything I've got that they'll save the day, no sweat. We don't need those dummies Goku and Vegeta anyway. They Z Fighters are still as epic as ever!"

"Okay. But don't call my grandpa a dummy, dummy!" snickered Shorts.

"Ha." Gonkuro thought for a moment. He forgot what he was going to say, but then, almost immediately, he remembered.

"And anyway, we have my dad! He's the strongest, out of all the Z Fighters!"

o– o – o – o – o

Goten lifted the saiyan up by the collar of his armor. The long, spiky haired saiyan was the leader of them all, and Goten wasn't just going to let him off easily. As the two warriors glared at each other, both with an intense hatred for one another, the half breed in the orange and blue gi took action. He started to punch the other in the stomach.

"This," He hit the saiyan, causing him to grunt. "Is for Korrin and Yajirobe."

"This," Goten hit him again. He grunted again, but this time sounding more tired. "Is for Jaco."

"This," Goten struck the saiyan much harder this time, causing the beaten warrior to spit out a mouthful of blood. "Is for Krillin."

"And this," Goten hit him once more, taking the saiyan's breath away and causing his eyes to roll into the back of his head. "Is for the countless amount of Namekians you and your little group slaughtered in cold blood." At this point, Gonkuro assumed the saiyan unconscious, and so he let the defeated warrior fall onto the dirt below. He powered down, and looked behind him.

It was a horrible sight to behold. The battlefield was filled with mostly unconscious bodies of the invading saiyans and the massive amount of lifeless namekian bodies. The namekians had just made Earth their new home due to another catastrophe that had occurred on their planet, and now, this had just happened- it was tragic. Every one of the Z Fighters that were still alive started to gather together. Pan, Trunks, Roshi, Yamcha, and Mr. Popo all came together, as a group. Android 18 came later, crying and grieving over her lost husband. Except for 18, the group of warriors were silent. They were all in absolute shock at what had just transpired. Then the turtle hermit spoke.

"Is everyone here okay?" he asked. Everyone nodded. Even 18, in her grief, responded with a nod.

"Good. Make sure that whoever is still alive, stays alive. Bring as many surviving namekians to the Dragon Clan namekians as you can. They'll be able to heal the wounded. After that, we'll be able to use the Dragon Balls to revive the dead namekians." Roshi continued to explain the tasks that the fighters were required to do, while right under their noses, someone had begun to awaken.

"I have a question."

"What is it, Goten?"

"Why can't we ju-"

A large stray beam came flying at the group, directed at one, single person. It came through their stomach, leaving a gaping hole in them. That warrior fell down, mortally injured. The team was speechless, with their mouths agape. And across from them, they found their assailant. It was the long haired, tanned saiyan Goten had just beaten, and the fallen warrior was Goten himself.

"Hah… hah… All of you… You're all so brittle! Wasting your ki to save your comrades' lives… Lowering your guards and allowing this to happen… You're all so… Weak!"

Pan was absolutely enraged, and was the first one to act. "YOU BASTARD!" She powered up, this time into the second form of super saiyan, super saiyan two. She charged up a ki blast, but was suddenly interrupted when someone from behind her had yelled "Stop!"

It was a namekian, one of the Dragon Clan of the name Tyriko. In an instant, he flew behind the saiyan leader and chopped him on the neck, making him truly pass out. The saiyan fell down, limp. "If you kill him, that makes us no better than them. Trust me, I sure as hell know how hard it is to accept that, but you're going to have to." Tyriko then saw Goten, who was still barely conscious. He raced over to meet the fallen warrior, and began putting his hands on his chest, preparing to heal him. However, Tyriko did not have much ki left in him; he had used most of it trying to heal his own comrades. Seeing this, the dying Goten interjected.

"Please… don't do that…" Goten said, struggling to get the words out of his mouth. "Goten, what the hell are you saying?! Of course we have to heal you!" protested Goten's childhood friend, Trunks. The Z Fighters all crowded around Goten, listening to his last words. "I've never been resurrected before. Why waste the little energy you have on me, a guy who'll be resurrected soon, when you can use it on someone who needs it?"

Tyriko didn't know what to think. "Are you sure?" Goten simply smiled softly, and nodded. With his dying breath, he said, "I'll… see you guys… soon."

o – o – o – o – o

A little while ago, Gonkuro remembered that Shorts was the one acting gloomy and he was the one that was comforting Shorts. So, it would make sense as to why he found it incredibly ironic now that it was the opposite. And annoying.

Gonkuro and Shorts were still both on the Lookout, but this time, it was at a different hour and for a different reason. They were standing in the back of the Lookout at night while the Z fighters gathered the Dragon Balls, ready to resurrect their fallen comrades.

"Gonkuro… I… I know why you're sad. I've literally dealt with what you're feeling today. Please… Just talk to someone. Talk to me." Gonkuro listened, but he didn't want to. At this moment, he was filled with a storm of emotions. Confusion, sadness, rage… He didn't know what to do. Gonkuro wasn't crying… he was just so frustrated; he felt helpless.

"You're not yourself, Gonkuro. I know that you're overwhelmed and worried about your dad and everyone else, but… It's just strange. I've never seen you like this before… But we can help you… _I_ can help you, Gonkuro." Shorts was starting to get on his nerves. He knew Shorts was trying to help, but he felt like Shorts wasn't helping at all. Gonkuro had always hated being pitied, and right then and there, that was what it felt like. Shorts was starting to piss him off.

" _You_ can help me? You, of all people, can help me? Really? The only "help" you can give me, right now, is by shutting the hell up!" Shorts, being taken aback by this comment, took a few seconds to process this. This was his best friend in the whole world, and he had yelled at him. Shorts looked down at the ground, and then flew off.

Gonkuro felt bad. He obviously cared for Shorts an incredible amount, but that feeling of regret was greatly overshadowed by his current emotions. Right now, all he wanted to do was see his dad again. He knew that the other Z Fighters who had died couldn't be resurrected; Gonkuro hated that fact, but at this moment, his dad was the only thing that he cared about.

Shenron was summoned. Gonkuro, seeing and hearing this, stood up. He watched from a distance, as the Z Fighters gathered around the dragon. He saw Shorts's dad at the front, followed by his cousin and the rest of them. He waited patiently yet ever so eagerly to see his dad again. However, something went wrong.

He saw Trunks speak, assuming that he was wishing to bring everyone killed by the saiyan group to come back to life. The dragon then said something back, something that Gonkuro couldn't make out. Then everyone went quiet.

Gonkuro raced up to the group, asking the nearest person, Dende, what was wrong. Dende, however, didn't respond. Once coming closer to Dende, he noticed that he was covering his mouth with his hands, with tears in his eyes. Everyone was still silent, and at this moment, Gonkuro knew something bad had just occurred. Then he heard Trunks talk once more.

"…Why can't we bring him back….? We understand, O great dragon, that we can't resurrect Krillin, Yajirobe, Korin, or Jaco, but… why not Goten?"

Gonkuro was horrified. What could possibly be the problem? His dad had never died until now, so… what could it have been? He thought to himself intensely, repeating that same question over and over. _Why won't my dad come back?_ Then, Shenron spoke.

" _ **Although the death of the warrior known as Goten was influenced by an attacker, it was not the direct cause. Goten died of natural causes.**_ "

 _That's impossible! Natural causes?! My dad had a giant gaping hole through his stomach… That wasn't… That couldn't…_

" _ **Goten was suffering a disease known by mortals as the Heart Virus."**_

At this statement, Gonkuro, as well as the rest of the Z Fighter's hearts, sank.

" _ **Despite the fact that Goten had been taking medications for this disease, after he had been fatally injured, the virus was what had ultimately finished him off. Therefore, Goten had died directly by natural causes."**_

o – o – o – o – o

It was midnight. Gonkuro was in his home, sitting alone at his dinner table. His mom was making a late dinner for him. Yet, neither of them were hungry.

Many things had happened after the incident at the Lookout. The Z Fighters disbanded, with every single warrior leaving in tears. Yamcha, however, left in a different state of mind. He felt lost, and couldn't deal with all of his friends' deaths, and so, he left with the mission to find inner peace. 18 still had to tell Marron, her daughter, about the news. And Tienshinhan, the Z fighter who didn't come to the fight, never came.

Gonkuro couldn't take it anymore. He pulled out his chair and left the table, running out of the house. His mother sighed, knowing what he was going through, and let him grieve. Gonkuro ran outside, through the garden and into the grassy plains. He looked up, at the night sky.

The night was illuminated with stars, as it always had been. This was, except for a small empty patch in the middle of the sky. Gonkuro, crying, looked up into the patch.

"Why?" Gonkuro asked at the empty space.

"Why did you leave us, grandpa? You left us too soon. My dad died because of you."

"Why did you abandon us, Goku?"


	4. Prologue Pt 4: The Pathway to the Future

**Age 755. 15 years after Okara's arrival on Borea.**

Okara was in darkness. All he could see was a dark mist in every direction he looked. He was drowning in this darkness, struggling to get out of it. But then, in front of him, a pathway appeared.

In front of him was a pathway made of little lights. It wasn't made of any material; it was as if the invisible floor underneath his feet had lit up many, many small lights of different shapes to form a long pathway. They looked like stars.

Okara followed it. He walked along the pathway obediently, not struggling anymore. He confided in this pathway, trusting where it would take him. He didn't question the pathway at all, and simply followed its every order, to turn right, left, or any other direction. He didn't care, as long as the pathway showed him the way.

Then he saw the end of the pathway. It was in front of him. It took an incredibly long time to get there, and he was extremely tired. Okara wanted something in return. A prize, some kind of congratulations, anything that made him feel good about his journey. What he got instead shook him to his core. It was a figure with its back facing him, covered in a black cloak.

Something about the figure unnerved Okara immensely. He didn't know what was wrong, but he felt an icy chill run down his spine once his eyes made contact with the figure. Yet, he trusted the pathway, and so he didn't care about the consequences. The pathway led him to the figure, so Okara followed it, blindly. Once he got close to the figure, the pathway simply stopped. Suddenly, the figure turned around. Okara couldn't make it out; its entire body and face was covered in a shadow, yet somehow, the figure felt familiar to him. This made him even more nervous. With a swift motion, the figure turned on Okara. It then said two words to the young saiyan.

 _ **You're next.**_

In a blur, Okara fell backwards along the pathway, as if something was pulling him backwards incredibly quickly. He was getting sick; his vision gave out as everything turned into mush. He felt horrible. But as this was happening, he heard someone repeatedly call his name, over and over. This voice felt familiar, but it was not unnerving. It was comforting. As he was spiraling backwards, this was the one thing that made him feel good. Over and over, it repeated his name.

 _Okara… Okara…_ _ **OKARA!**_

 _ **WAKE THE FUCK UP!**_

Okara rocketed up from his bed of branches and leaves. _It was that dream… again,_ he thought to himself. He yawned, and then wiped his eyes.

"I'm up Shiza, you piece of shit." Okara was twenty-one currently. For fifteen years he had been living on Borea, with Shiza, Doresshingu, and Kuruton, and for fifteen years he had to deal with Shiza's antics. He learned an incredible amount from the Boreans, and relished every moment he had on the planet. However, after teaching the Boreans curse words, he started to regret staying here. Of course, most of the Boreans already knew that swearing existed, as most of them had become old enough to be able to know about the point in time when cursing was invented, but Shiza was a special case; they were having a bit of trouble growing. So, Okara thought it would be nice of him to teach Shiza some things. Little did he know then how much this decision would screw him over in the future.

 _ **FUCK YOUR SHIT IN YOUR ASSHOLE YOU BITCHY LOOKING MOTHERFUCKING PIECE OF CRAP BASTARD! Hahaha! I used those words correctly, no?**_

"Close enough." Normally, he would mock Shiza for being a complete dumbass, but he wasn't feeling it today. He was way too tired. Okara had stayed up nearly all night in order to prepare for the physical exam that Sugi, the originator tree, would test him on. He had to make sure he was in peak physical condition.

 _ **That's good! You're going to pass the test with flying colors, Okara, I know it for sure.**_

"Do you really?"

… _ **Well… No… But that is only because there are so many possib-**_

 _ **Okara!**_ Dorresshingu interrupted. _**How is your training going? I already know, its going perfectly. Are you ready for your exam? Of course you are, what am I saying? Just be sure to-**_

"Hey Dorresshingu. Don't you already know if I'm going to pass it or not? I mean, I get why Shiza still doesn't know by now-"

 _ **Hey!**_

"-but I thought you were better than that, Dorreshingu."

 _ **Uh, yeah, I do know,**_ replied Dorresshingu.

"Then why are you worrying so much?"

 _ **Because I have the right to! Now go, hurry! You are going to be late! Follow Kuruton's directions, he'll tell you where to go!**_

 _ **Yes, I will,**_ blurted out Kuruton, the eldest of the three. _**Are you sure you are ready, Okara? You certainly look tired.**_

"Ugh. You already know if I'm ready or not. Stop asking me those questions. It's almost as annoying as Shiza swearing."

 _ **You are correct. I only do it because I want to conversate with you. What else is there to talk with you about, currently?**_

"… I guess you do have a point."

 _ **Indeed. Now, if I may ask you a question… Why do you talk? We all know what you are thinking, and we are conversating with you in your head, so why do you still mouth out your thoughts?**_

"I don't know. I guess it just seems natural."

 _ **Yes, that does make sense.**_

Kuruton told Okara where to go, and he followed him. Straight, left, right; no matter which direction, Okara listened and followed. They conversed about minor, unimportant topics, but there was rather than pay attention the pathway or their conversation, he noticed something off about Kuruton. Kuruto's tree bark seemed to be a bit off colored. It wasn't too alarming, but it wasn't very comforting, either. Kuruton took note of this.

 _ **Okara, tell me. You seem preoccupied. What is it?**_

"It's nothing… you just seem a bit pale, is all."

 _ **You should be paying attention to the pathway; you would not want to get lost, especially on this very day.**_

 _He's right,_ thought Okara. _Why am I so ignorant? I have to be better than this during the test. I have to be aware._

Eventually, after Okara had followed Kuruton's directions, he arrived. He was faced with Sugi, the originator tree. However, like Kuruton, Sugi was looking pale, even more so than Kuruton. His branches were slanted downwards, he was very pale, and his leaves were falling at a much faster rate than normal. However, remembering Kuruton's advice and directions, he said nothing.

 **Greetings, Okara. It has been some time now.**

Okara got on one knee and bowed to the tree. "Yes. Yes it has, O Great Sugi."

 **Hm. I always tell you to just call me by my name, Sugi, yet you refuse and call me "O Great Sugi." There is no need to be so polite to someone who is essentially family, Okara.**

"I apologize, but it is my pleasure to be polite to a vastly great and noble being such as you, my lord."

 **Hm, yes. I assume you are ready for your test, Okara?**

"You already know if I am or not, my lord. I will begin whenever you will allow me, as always."

 **You know me too well. You may begin.**

 _Alright!_ , thought Okara. _First up… A demonstration of my power!_ The half saiyan half Borean started to hover in the air. _I better get this right…_ Okara, with both of his hands, formed and held a light yellowish ki ball. This ball made of ki started to grow, and so Okara's hands started to gain distance from each other, more and more. The ball grew, until it was as big as a person. Then, Okara let go of the ball. Pulling his arms back, he then extended both of his palms towards the center of the massive ball in a way where both of his wrists were connected to each other and where his fingers spread out, covering a portion of the ball. As he pushed his hands towards the center of the ball, it started to erupt, forming a straight, massive, ki blast. And with this beam of ki he held in his hands, Okara shouted, "BOREAN BLAST!" The light yellow beam flew towards the innocent Boreans at a massive velocity, gaining speed. _Now… to demonstrate my ki control!_ Okara then lifted both of his arms upwards towards the sky, and the blast followed. It followed the direction of his arms, soaring into the sky- but suddenly, with a jerk of his hand, Okara reversed the giant beam and aimed it towards himself. He stood his ground. He took a deep breath. _C'mon… I won't budge!_

The beam slammed into Okara, creating a massive explosion. Once the dust had finally settled, Okara stood there, injured, but in the exact same position he was in before. He had not moved an inch; a result of his training in order to be as sturdy and resilient as the trees that stood before him.

 **An impressive display of power. However, we both know that your ability of ki control is able to go much further, would you not agree?**

"Yes, yes I do." _Next up… plants…_ Okara fell back onto the grassy floor, and then crouched down. Putting both of his palms onto the grassy floor, he started to glow. The grass around him started to wilt, and lose energy, as small, light yellow orbs of ki started to fly towards Okara. The orbs ingrained themselves into his body, adding onto his power. This absorption technique spread throughout the grass, making the area in which he absorbed energy bigger, and making more of the grass wilt. The ki absorbed eventually became so great that Okara had a pale yellow outline of ki around him.

Once Okara finished his demonstration of absorbing, he stood straight up. He closed his eyes, concentrating on the flow of his ki throughout his body, memorizing the way it moved like a river throughout his head, body, arms and legs. And then his eyes shot open. With a palm strike, a root from one of the trees obtruded out of the ground as fast as a bullet. It looked as if a large diagonal wooden spike had risen from the ground. Okara performed more palm strikes, and with each one, a wooden spike emerged. Right arm, left arm; more kept coming. Okara then turned around swiftly, doing a leg sweep. As his leg moved in a half-circular motion, a wall of wooden spikes formed about five feet from his leg sweep. He had made a semi-circular wall of wooden spikes.

Okara then spread both of his arms out to his sides in a curve, as if he was welcoming someone to attack him. Seconds after raising his arms, vines shot up from the ground, entangling his arms, legs, and lower torso. These vines shot Okara up like a spring, sending Okara flying into the sky. He went up and up, but eventually, he reached ab point where his momentum fled, and instead he fell down. However, he was did not act clumsily. As he fell down, he stiffened his body, making it straight. He then extended his right arm downwards, with his hand forming a fist. Once Okara's fist had touched the ground, the dirt exploded in a flash, getting everywhere. After a few seconds, the dirt had cleared, and around Okara in a perfect circle was a wall of wooden spikes. His fist's impact had forced the surrounding tree roots to form this defensive barrier.

Okara, however, was not done demonstrating his ki control, and his extra ki reserves he had obtained from the plants had not run out; in fact, Okara hadn't even used it yet. Breathing heavily inwards, the pale ki outline around him faded. But Okara held in his breath. And then, with a loud yell, he let all of the ki he absorbed from the plants along with some of his own ki out, resulting in an explosion of yellow ki. It was a ki dome that surrounded him, acting as another barrier while blasting anything in its vicinity away from him. Fortunately, Okara had enough ki control to be able to make the dome small enough to not touch any of the trees surrounding him, only affecting the grass in the clearing.

 **Well done, Okara. However, there is still one challenge, one technique you have not mastered yet. This is the only task stopping you from going into the Hibernation Cave. I wish you good luck.**

"I don't need luck," muttered Okara, under his breath. He had come so far, and he wasn't ready to just give up all his progress because of just one mistake. Okara took some time to meditate, breathing in and out, and preparing himself to perform the task. Then, he stopped meditating.

 _And finally…_ Okara extended his right arm out, curving it in a ninety degree angle with his upper arm facing towards the sky. He opened his fist, exposing his palm, but curving each of his fingers. He was forming a ki ball, which didn't look too big. However, the ki that he was drawing energy from was not his own; it was his surroundings. Light yellow ki orbs flew from anywhere within a mile wide radius. Okara was drawing energy from his surroundings and building all of it up in one, condensed ki ball. However, instead of being a light yellow color, the ball was of a different shade: light blue. Once he had finished building enough ki from his environment, he held the ball firmly in his hand.

 _The Spirit Bomb!_

Steadying his arm, Okara moved it back, aiming at the sky. He threw the Spirit Bomb into the heavens, with his arm extended outwards towards the bomb, and his palm wide open. Once the bomb seemed far enough from the planet, Okara closed his palm. With a flash, the condensed orb exploded in a storm of bright blue light. Okara, realizing that he had passed his test, chuckled and fell down onto the grassy floor, taking a rest.

 **Okara.**

"Yes, Great Sugi?"

 **You have passed the exam.**

Okara took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. He was silent, but on the inside, he was completely filled with elation. Finally he could go into the Hibernation Cave. It took fifteen years to perfect all of his techniques, but in the end, it was worth it. Along with him celebrating on his own, he heard his family's voices in his head, congratulating him.

 _ **You did really good, fucker!**_ said Shiza, cheerfully.

 _ **Great job! You did so well!**_ said Dorresshingu, full of happiness for their sibling.

 _ **I knew you would pass it this time,**_ said Kuruton, reassuringly.

 **You did extremely well, Okara. Now… now is the time in which you finish your training.**

Okara stood up. Behind Sugi was a large mound of boulders. However, the front wall of this mound had started to open, as if it were a massive door being pushed from side to side.

 **You will enter the Hibernation Cave. This cave, much like your pod, will put you in a comatose state, in which your mind will be as lively as ever, but your body stiff and numb. In this cave, time will be irrelevant; only the flow of ki exists in it. Time will halt, but life within the cave and ki itself will live on. This cave will be filled with this ki of life, making it it harder for you to breathe, and see. It will make you dazed, however, your training in the art of ki control will guide you. Use this ki of life in your later experiences, and take it in. It shall be of great use to you in your future. You need not worry if you take it, as immediately after you are done with the Cave, the ki of life will be refilled with my power.**

Okara could feel it. Even from where he was standing, he could feel the immense, pressurized intensity of the ki of life within the cave. He, however, wasn't daunted by this. He had trained his entire life to take part in this. Okara was ready.

 **This ki of life is my very essence- my being. Once you absorb it, you have fully become part Borean; a piece of me shall be with you at all times, much like how every living being on this planet is a part of me. Not only that, but you will also greatly strengthen your mind, soul, and body, and your ki control will advance greatly, yet again. It will only take one year. After that, you will have all of your mastered abilities with you, and you will become a true Borean.**

 **Now, Okara.**

 **Are you ready?**

"I was always ready, Sugi."

 **Hm, good. It was about time you called me by my name, and name alone.**

Okara smirked. He started to confidently walk over to the Cave, as Shiza, Dorresshingu, Kuruton, and the rest of Borea cheered him on. However, once getting close to the Cave, his smirk faded and felt unsure. There was something that was bothering him, but he didn't know what it was. But then he realized.

In the past few months, he noticed something that he subconsciously put in the back of his mind. All of the Boreans: Kuruton, Shiza, Dorresshingu; they all, very slowly, seemed like they were getting weaker. Their leaves started to fall faster, their bark crumpled and shed sooner than before, and their speech patterns were getting slower. Even Sugi looked the same. They all seemed… sick. But Okara didn't notice at the time. He started to notice, but whenever he was putting the pieces together, they told him to concentrate on his training. _**You have to focus, Okara. You have to ace this exam, you've prepared so long for it! Hey, motherfucker, get back to work!**_ They all told him this whenever he was thinking about their health. In this instance, all of these memories came flooding back.

Okara turned around, worried and unconfident. But there, he saw Sugi, the great, infallible originator. And for a second, it Sugi to stare back at him, in anguish.

But that soon ended. **Okara. What are you waiting for?** Sugi said in a stern voice. **Are you not confident in yourself? Are you not ready? Because, if that is the case, we must redo the exam until you are confident enough to enter the Cave.**

"Uhm, no, Sugi. Of course I'm confident enough. I'll enter the cave immediately. I'm sorry for hesitating." _What the hell was I thinking? I worked so hard for this for forever, and I'm having doubts about this now of all times?!_ Okara thought to himself.

 **So are you confident or not, Okara?**

"I am confident. I just wanted to think about it a little before I went in."

 **Hm. Okay. You have proven yourself enough. You may enter, Okara. Make all of us proud in there.**

"I will."

And with Sugi's direction, Okara entered the cave. Within the last moments of the walls closing, Sugi's words were, **We will see you soon.** The doors closed.

Almost immediately, Okara felt the affects of the ki of life. Just looking around the Cave was disorienting. Everything felt fuzzy; his sense of touch, smell, sight; they all were hindered. But Okara had prepared for this. He soldiered on, walking throughout the Cave. The Cave itself was filled with life; moss grew everywhere and plants Okara didn't even know existed thriving. It was a melting pot of thousands of different plant species, each bringing their own color and vibrancy to the aesthetic of the Cave. It was simply beautiful, and ki was everywhere; in every crevice and corner of the Cave. This ki dazed Okara, but he still admired the beauty and magnificence of it.

Then, at the end of the Cave, Okara came across the Pond. This pond was what the Cave was, but so much more. Strands of flowing ki rivers flew out of the pond and encircled Okara in its magnificence. Inside the pond, there were millions of different species, all swaying back and forth in the luminescent water. It was so beautiful. It was so bright, yet it didn't hurt to look at it. It was so exciting, yet comforting. Okara felt safe in the Cave standing next to the Pond, as if he was meant to be here, all this time. It was as if Fate itself had directed him here. Okara felt so safe in the hands of Fate, and so, he entered the pool, and lied down in its warm, vibrant water. Then, the plants, water, and ki of life stopped flowing for a few seconds, and then continued to flow, but now in Okara's direction. The ki of everything that existed in the cave flew into him, ingraining themselves into him. Okara was filled with energy, but he wasn't excited. He was tranquil; at peace. It was so beautiful, so nice, so peaceful, that Okara decided to rest. He continued to lie down upon the bed that was the Pond, and ever so slowly, closed his eyes. Then, a year passed.

Then two years.

Then three years.

Okara did not notice any of this. He was in a comatose state, and it did not feel as if anything was wrong. Time did not exist in the Cave; only pure life. In his mind, he was at complete peace. He felt as if he was floating in a stream of color; every color in existence was contained in this stream, and it carried him from place to place. In his dream, he was flying in this rainbow stream, and he felt like the best he had ever felt in his entire life. His choices, his decisions, his actions; they didn't matter. Everything he had done in this dream was not his actions, but Fate's actions. He didn't have to worry about anything, because he knew his future was ensured, at least in his dream. He was so relaxed in this dream; he didn't have any worries at all. The pathway the stream formed for him made him feel good.

That was, until, the stream started to transform.

Okara, still in this dreamlike state, had started to notice holes in the stream. Bright, white holes that pierced the stream. It was as if someone had shot the stream with a small ki blast, leaving a hole through it of pure light. There were only a few at first, shining in his face, annoying the saiyan who was previously relaxing. But then, they started to increase. And as they increased, the stream started to drain. The level of the stream began to fall, and these bright holes of light grew more and more plentiful. Soon, instead of floating on the stream, Okara was lying on his back, with the entire stream, gone. And instead, the floor he was standing on was full of these holes. Except, these weren't holes.

These were stars.

Okara stood up, in shock and terror. It was this dream again. All the color had faded from his environment, with it being, once again, a black mist. Okara stood still. But then his legs started to move. He wasn't controlling his legs; it was as if they had a mind of their own. He tried to stop them. He slammed his fists against them, tried to take back the control of his legs, yet nothing worked. He was being forced to move onwards on the pathway of stars. And yet again, near the end of the pathway, he faced the cloaked figure.

Then, the entire environment, the pathway of stars, the darkness, had all been replaced. Instead, a horrible setting took their place. It was on a planet Okara couldn't recognize; it was like Borea, but with much less trees, and instead, frightening imagery of a decrepit city and corpses of figures he couldn't recognize filled the background, with fire being spread everywhere he looked. These colors, like the Cave, were vibrant, but these ones hurt. And not only were they vibrant: they were dark. Okara wanted to break down and call for help, but he couldn't. Instead, he simply looked upon the looming frame of the cloaked figure. The cloaked figure, again, was hunched over, but instead of being silent, the figure sounded as if it were crying, weeping for something or someone. Okara's legs moved by themselves once again, and stepped close to this figure. And again, the figure turned around. But instead of having a shadow for a face, Okara saw it. It was gray; gray bandages had covered his entire face, with no recognizable features except a dull, gray color. And the figure said its words once again, but in a sad, hopeless voice.

 _ **You're next.**_

Okara woke up, panting. He remembered every last second of his horrible dream, to the smallest detail. And he hated that. But, he remembered. It was merely a dream. Or so he thought.

The entire pool of vibrant life had dissipated. There was no water left, and all the life there had died. Okara was lying in a hole of dirt. He did feel stronger and more proficient at ki control, but that hardly mattered. He jumped out of his situation, and felt a chill run down his spine. There was no more ki of life, but that was to be expected; he should have absorbed it. But, the cave was dead. There was nothing left. Every single plant was dead; they were all stiff, sagging downwards, like a lifeless corpse. _Sugi should have revived at least a portion of the Cave by now_ , Okara thought to himself. _Sugi must have forgotten. That must be it_ , Okara reasoned by himself. He then exited the cave, and what he saw made him drop to his knees.

There were no voices. Nothing talked to him, nothing congratulated him. Nothing. There was nothing except a titanic, lifeless corpse of what used to be the originator tree simply existing in front of Okara. The corpse didn't say a word.

Okara looked around him. Most, if not all, of the trees looked exactly like Sugi. They had no leaves, their bark was almost all the way off, and they didn't say a word.

Okara started to run. He ran and ran and ran, looking, searching for any sign of life. And he found it, stopping next to one of the trees.

He found one tree, nearly dead, but still alive. And the tree talked in whisper.

 _Okara… hello. Please… do not worry… about me…_

And in front of him, Okara saw the tree die. Okara was crying waterfalls of tears. He had been once he saw Sugi dead, but this feeling had sunk into Okara's mind once he saw for himself one of his friends perishing. The half saiyan, half Borean man, with all of his will, moved on.

 _If… if some of them are alive… then Shiza, Dorresshingu, and Kuruton must be alive as well!_ Okara reasoned by himself. He passed more and more trees, all of them telling him not to worry or feel sad. But he didn't listen. He was determined to find his family. And… his pod. He didn't know how much time had passed, but based on what he saw, he had to check.

Okara eventually reached his pod, in the middle of a clearing of dead trees. He forced it open, getting inside the cramped space and starting it up. He checked the Universal Calendar that was programmed into his pod.

 **Age 813. It had been** **58 years since he had entered the Cave.**

Okara fell to the ground. He pounded the ground. "Why?!" he sobbed to himself. "Why did this happen? How did I let this happen?"

 _Oh, Okara… why are you grieving?_

He recognized the voice. Okara immediately stood up, looking, searching for that voice.

 _Behind you…_

He saw him. Okara ran towards the half-dead tree. He hugged Shiza, with all his might, crying tears of agony.

"What happened?! What the hell… did you all do?"

Shiza, with the last of his strength, forced himself to bend whatever branches and sticks he had left, trying to hug Okara back the best he could.

 _Sugi… he was sick. He had caught some horrible disease while you were training, and we all knew. Once Sugi became sick, we all were sick. Our connection to Sugi… it poisoned us, Okara. Our connection was what led to our demise. But we had to make sure you entered the Cave before… we all died. We did not want you to worry about us and divert yourself from preparing for the exam. We wanted you to succeed._

"Why?! Why would you want me, only me, to succeed, at the cost of everyone's lives?! I'm not worth it, god, I'm not worth-"

 _Do not say that, Okara. We are nigh-omniscient, remember? We know… we know if you're worth it or not, and you were. You... absolutely_ _were worth it. Fate willed it so. Fate goes ever as fate must._

"So then, what?! What the hell was I worth it for?!"

 _You… I cannot tell you now, but… you will see in time. You must… break the cycle, Okara. That is all I can say. You must… live. Find the planet of the name… Earth. There you will find your heritage… your race… there, you will find your destiny. You must… go back to your pod… Kuruton repurposed it just for you. All you have to do is press a button…_

"Wait… Kuruton… Where's Kuruton? Where's Dorresshingu?!"

 _I am afraid they are all… gone, Okara. I am all that is left._

"…Why? WHY?! God, DAMN IT! WHY DID YOU SAVE ME?! I COULD HAVE SAVED THEM, DAMN IT, I COULD HAVE SAVED ALL OF YOU! I WOULD HAVE GIVEN EVERYTHING TO HAVE A CHANCE TO DO THAT!"

 _Okara…_

One of Shiza's branches had reached down, caressing Okara's head.

 _Please… do not fret. It was our destiny… to die here… And it is your destiny… to find the Saiyans. They are… thriving on… Earth, Okara… Find them… Lead them… Guide them… They are lost. They are lost… without you, Okara. We… could not… we could not let you die, Okara… if you died here, it would… all be over… Do not die on Earth… because… you… you must break the cycle… Do it… do it for me… for all of us…_

"I… I will do it… I'll do whatever you want... But you can't die here! You can't!"

 _Ah…you… you know… you know it is… too late for me…Do not… do not grieve for me… You have… a mission… remember?... Do not… be… a dumbass…_

Shiza's ki was fading, and fading fast. Okara realized this; his last friend was about to die. And so, he hugged Shiza, one last time.

"I… I love you, Shiza."

 _I… love… you… too… brother…_

Okara held Shiza for some time. He didn't want to leave. Shiza was his family.

But he had to. Fate willed it so. Fate goes ever as fate must.

After some hours, Okara went to his pod, slowly. He felt as if a part of him had just died, yet, he had to continue. For the Boreans. For Shiza.

He went inside the cramped pod. Breathing heavily, he checked the coordinates. Kuruton did well. His destination was a planet called Earth. Seeing this, Okara, with tears still in his eyes, pressed the button. The pod lifted off, sending far into the atmosphere. And Okara went off, off to forge his own fate.


	5. 1: Okara's Arrival

"So… how is it?" asked Shorts inquisitively.

"What, the ramen?"

"Uhm… yeah? That's kind of the only thing we're eating right now."

"I LOVE IT!" exclaimed Gonkuro, scarfing the entire bowl of Miso Ramen down. Gonkuro and Shorts were at a local street stand, and the cook there nodded in approval as Gonkuro abruptly answered his blue-haired partner.

"Honestly, I'm starting to regret coming here."

Gonkuro put his bowl down and looked at Shorts with a confused expression. "But you're the one who wanted me to try this place? I thought you already had it and liked it?"

"I mean it is good, but I just realized that I could've made the exact same thing at home," stated Shorts. "Waste of money, really." The cook looked shocked and shook his head in disapproval.

Gonkuro stood up, still staring at Shorts, but instead with an excited expression.

Shorts chuckled. "You all right there, G-"

Gonkuro put both of his hands on Shorts's shoulders. "Make it. Every. Single. Day."

Shorts blushed. "I mean… I guess I could, if you really wanted to. It's not too hard, so I honestly don't know what you're getting so excited about-"

The cook stood up too, but in anger rather than excitement. "Both of you! I don't care if you guys are the defenders of Earth! You've disrespected my cooking! GET OUTTA HERE!"

Both Shorts and Gonkuro, each of them being twenty years old, had spent an excessive amount training with each other in the past two months in their house. Especially Gonkuro. Shorts had noticed how he was working so hard, and had decided to invite Gonkuro to go out with him and eat at a decent ramen place in order to convince him to take a break. It worked, but Shorts honestly didn't expect the cook to kick them out. They decided to head back home, but taking the scenic route of walking instead of flying back.

"Damn… Sorry, Go."

"Nah, it's all good, man. That just means we can get back to training! And besides, you did say you could make the exact same thing at home, right?"

"…Yeah."

"Then it was a totally good thing. Don't worry about it."

Shorts smiled. He really didn't know how or why, but every time he was down, Gonkuro always had a way to cheer him back up. It felt great, having someone like that. He always felt so safe around him.

That was until they both saw what looked like a saiyan pod, streaking across the sky at a monstrous speed, making a cut through the clouds.

"Hm. Okay. Who the fuck was that?" asked Gonkuro, utterly baffled at what he just saw.

Shorts just stared at the streak in the sky, also baffled, but thinking. But Gonkuro had just snapped out of his trance. "Could it be…? Them again?!"

"There's no way," stated Shorts firmly. "There's no way it could be them. This was just one ship. Last time, there was a whole fleet of ships, and they all came at the same time. This is a rogue saiyan, Go."

"But either way, it's problematic."

Shorts looked at the watch around his wrist. He sighed, and he pressed a single button on the watch. He pointed the clock in front of him, and a scanner-like laser shot out of it. The laser started to form a digital weapon, starting from the bottom and going up to the top. Once it had finished forming it, the weapon materialized. It was a sword with a brown hilt, made out of a special metal that gave off a purple tint when reflected with light. Shorts grabbed the blade while it was in mid-air. He started to take off, but Gonkuro put his hand on Shorts's chest.

"What's the matter?"

Gonkuro had a smirk on his face. It was small, but Shorts could see it. "I'm taking this one, alone."

"What?! We go together, especially when dealing with space aliens whom we know nothing about!"

"I get where you're coming from, but hear me out first," Gonkuro pleaded. "Think about it. We're like, two of the strongest people in the universe right now. No saiyan is going to stand a chance against either of us with where we're at right now, and especially if it's just one. What I'm saying is, I want to test how strong I am right now. Because I've been training for like two months now, and I feel like there's no point if I don't test myself to see my progress."

Shorts saw where he was coming from, but didn't say anything. "I still don't like this."

"C'mon! Please! For me." Gonkuro begged. Shorts took a moment to think about everything Gonkuro's done for him, every nice thing that the messy haired hero had done to make him feel happy.

"Ugh. Fine. But if it lasts more than five minutes, I'm going over there to end it."

"AH! THANKS! I owe you big time!" Gonkuro hugged him, raising him up. Shorts started to laugh.

"Alright, alright!" Gonkuro put him down. "Have fun out there, Go."

Gonkuro nodded with a smile. "Alright! See you in probably less than five minutes maybe!"

As Gonkuro flew off, Shorts started to think to himself. _Wow. It's really incredible._

 _He's so much like the person he hates._

o – o – o – o – o

Okara woke up.

The ship was shaking, and shaking hard. _The atmosphere of "Earth" sure isn't very welcoming,_ Okara thought, as his pod was catching fire. However, it was fine; saiyan pods were meant for situations like these.

The last thing Okara remembered before his pod had put him in hibernation was how he put himself to sleep by crying, mourning his lost friends. It was an incredibly bitter pill to swallow, but he had to move on. For them. All Okara thought about was what they wanted him to do on Earth. To _find your heritage… your race, the Saiyans,_ to _Find them, lead them, and guide them_ , and to _Find your destiny._ Those three objectives ran through Okara's mind, over and over, even in hibernation, throughout the two years in which he sat in his pod. Okara was now twenty-two.

He was going to do what they asked. Whatever it took, he was determined to get it done.

 _Find your heritage… your race, the Saiyans._

 _Find them, lead them, guide them._

 _Find your destiny._

And then he landed. The pod crashed destructively into the concrete ground, creating a sizeable crater. Okara, after taking some time to reflect on everything that has led him to here, opened the door of the pod and started to step outside.

Okara was greeted with primitive hovering vehicles that were being levitated by propellers on the top of their hoods, with soldiers with guns on the inside. Okara, seeing the ancient hovering technology of the vehicles, simply brushed these soldiers off as weaklings. What really intrigued Okara, however, was the buildings. They were the exact same buildings he had seen in his hibernation dream.

"Saiyan warrior! Don't move!" shouted one of the soldiers. Okara's attention was now focused on them, and gave them a cold, grating stare. They all were shocked as a result, and jumped a little in fear. _These guys really are weaklings…_ Okara thought. _But wait… Something big is coming!_ Okara could sense a big power level coming his way, and so he got ready. He got into the fighting pose that the Boreans had taught him: His arms tucked into his sides, with his fists and forearm extending in front of his body, with his legs bent. It looked as if he was about to power up.

Once the soldiers saw his pose, they immediately all pointed their guns at him. Okara simply rolled his eyes. However, this standoff soon ended when one of them, whom Okara took to be their commander, received some sort of message. Okara saw him talking into some talking device, and then he nodded to the other soldiers. At the commander's order, they all dispersed and left the scene.

 _Their boss must be coming up. If this guy is suppressing his power as much as I think he is, his strength must be off the charts!_ Okara grinned. _I'm actually starting to get excited!_

Then the warrior arrived. "Hey, you!"

He was wearing a black coat with a hood at the place behind his head. It was unbuttoned, and so underneath it, he was wearing a gray shirt. He wore long blue pants made of what seemed to be cotton, and shoes with strings on them. It was strange to Okara; he had never seen anyone wearing clothes like his, but he got used to it quickly. However, the strangest part about the warrior was not his clothes, but his facial appearance. He had the exact same skin color, eye color and hair color that a saiyan would normally have. His eyes were black, he had black hair, and had orange-peach skin; yet his hair was not spiky. A main characteristic of saiyans that made them stand out was their spiky hair, yet this warrior's hair was messy, as if he had purposefully messed it up. _Was this man a saiyan or not?_ The strong warrior flew towards Okara and landed near him. "So, you're a saiyan, huh?"

"Yes. My name is Okara." The saiyan didn't want to show any emotion towards the strange warrior. He didn't want him to get any advantage over him, so he kept a poker face.

"Why did you come here?"

"I've heard that the rest of my race is residing on this planet. I wish to meet them."

The mysterious warrior stared blankly. "You… know about the surviving saiyans?"

"Yes. I wish to meet them."

"How? How do you know about them?"

"That information is private," Okara answered bluntly.

"Private, huh?"

"Yes."

"Okay, cool. Cool, I totally get that." _No he doesn't_ , thought Okara. _This man seems to be very suspicious of me, but is trying to hide that suspicion. To be fair, he's doing quite a good job at pretending to act polite._

"So… saiyan guy," said the mysterious stranger. "You don't want to destroy or take over Earth?"

Okara was caught off guard by this statement. "Uh- No. No. I see no reason why I should have to. Unless you give me a reason to."

"Okay. That's good news." _He doesn't fully believe me. Only a little bit._

"How did you escape Planet Vegeta's destruction, and how are you here now? You look like 20, but Vegeta's destruction was about 70 years ago."

"That is also private information."

"Again, huh?"

"Yes." _His patience is wearing thin._

"So, how did you get so strong? The other saiyans aren't nearly as strong as you."

Okara, again, didn't expect the saiyans to actually be weaker than him, but he was prepared this time. "I've trained. Where and how I've trained is, again, private information," he said factually.

"Hm. You really can't tell me?"

"No."

"Alright." _He's really bothered by my answers._

"Now, warrior, If I may ask you a question."

"Yeah, go ahead, shoot."

"How can I meet my race? The saiyans, of course. How would I find them and talk to them?"

The warrior squinted his eyes and put two fingers on his chin, thinking. "Hm… That… is private information."

Okara got angry quickly. "Excuse me?"

"Now hold on. I'll tell you that, but only after you do something for me. That's only fair, as you did just randomly crash land on _my_ planet."

"Tch. Fine. What is it?"

"I want you to sign up for the 39th World Martial Arts Tournament."

Okara raised an eyebrow. "In order to meet my race… you're telling me I have to enlist in a tournament?"

The man grinned. "Yeah! Why not, huh? It's a perfect place for me and everyone else here to see if you're intentions are good or not, if you're actually who you say you are, and if you're as strong as I think you are."

"Of course I'm strong. You seem to be able to sense ki. You know I am."

"Yeah… but based on what I'm sensing right now, you're not even close to winning the tournament," the man said with a smirk.

"Is that a challenge?"

"Maybe. I just want to see how strong you are when faced against me, that's all. Obviously, you won't beat me, but I just-"

"I suggest you not test me," warned Okara. "You wouldn't want to see what I'm like at my full power."

"Mhm. Sure."

At this point, it seemed both of the warriors were irritated by one another. However, at the same time, both of them were intrigued and excited at the prospect of fighting one another as well.

"So, its on the island right next to South City. We're in Ginger Town right now, so just go Southeast. Here, take my map." The warrior took out a capsule, and pressed down on the top. The pill then vanished, and in his hand there was a map. He then gave it to Okara."But you're going to have to sign up first. I can do it for you, but I'm going to have to ask for your permi-"

"I allow it. You can sign me up for the tournament."

The man smiled. "Good. One thing though- I need to know your name to sign you up. And we haven't properly introduced each other." He stuck out his hand. "Name's Gonkuro."

Okara seized the hand and attempted to make his grip tight. "Okara." The two men tightened their grips, as if they were testing how strong the other's hand was.

"Alright. Tournament's in two weeks. I'm assuming you need a place to stay, so I guess I'll just get you a place at a hotel or something for a while."

"No. That will not be necessary."

Gonkuro blinked. "Are you sure? Where'll you go to sleep or eat?"

"Trust me. I provide for myself."

"Um, okay, but what about your clothes?"

Okara hadn't even noticed. His saiyan armor, the armor he had worn since he was first sent to Borea at age five, was covered in moss and weeds, and was cracked in many places. He didn't mind it, though.

"Do you want me to get you new ones, or…"

"No, that won't be necessary either. I take pride in my saiyan armor."

"Ah, yeah. Course you do. You guys are all like that," Gonkuro said bitterly.

"Alright, cool. I guess I'll see you in two weeks! Try not to blow stuff up or kill anyone. If you do, I'll have to beat you before the tournament, instead of during-"

"I know that, but I have one more question for you."

"Uh, yeah?"

"Are you… a saiyan?"

"No. Nope. Noooope. Not a full blood. Only a quarter saiyan, here."

"Oh."

"Yeah. I don't really count myself as truly saiyan. Sorry about that."

"Understood. I'll see you again in two weeks."

"Sounds good!"

Both warriors flew off in opposite directions. _That man, Gonkuro… I won't deny it, he's strong. I might even have to absorb and save some outside ki in order to beat him_ , thought Okara. The saiyan kept on flying, looking for a good place to meditate. He came upon a forest, so he flew down and sat on the leafy floor. He pulled out the map. _World Martial Arts Tournament, huh? How pretentious._ _It'll hardly be a challenge,_ thought Okara, trying to convince himself that he wasn't excited. It was quite the opposite, however; as much as he tried to suppress it, he felt incredibly pumped and curious to see what Earth had to offer. He sat in a meditative position, closed his eyes, and began to meditate.

o – o – o – o – o

"I really don't think he can go super saiyan, Shorts," stated Gonkuro while thinking about his previous encounter, lying on a sofa. "He isn't pure of heart. He's hiding way too much."

"Well, we don't know that yet. We barely know anything about him, after all. He came to Earth alone. He doesn't want to destroy Earth. Hell, he doesn't even seem to have bad intentions. What makes you think that he's evil? All he's done is withhold info from us. He could even be hiding super saiyan from us like he's been doing," replied Shorts, surfing the internet on his laptop whilst sitting next to Gonkuro.

"If he really is a super saiyan, that might be problematic. His base form is kind of close to mine already. If he has any other tricks up his sleeve in addition to being a super saiyan, then…"

"Hey. don't think like that, Go. You would still be much stronger than him, even if he was a super saiyan, based on what you told me. And even if there was a small chance he's stronger than you are, he'll have me to beat. And I _really_ don't think he'll be as strong as I am."

"Yeah. You're right, Shorts. You always kind of are. But I just… get bad vibes from him, you know?" said Gonkuro. He was definitely anxious about what Okara would do once the tournament began, but along with that nervousness, he was also excited.

"You're not the only one," said Shorts, turning on the T.V. On every single channel, there was news about Okara crash-landing to Earth. Every channel was talking about it, even channels that had nothing to do with news. "This kind of reminds me of-"

"Yeah. Yeah it does." Gonkuro watched closely, as he saw what the programs captioned as "leaked images" of Okara. There were a great amount of theories of what the "foreign intruder" was capable of, his motives, and his alignment. Most of them depicted him as the villain.

"We'll just have to see what he's like during the tournament, I guess," said Gonkuro.

o – o – o – o – o

The two weeks had flown by quickly for Okara. He was meditating for the duration of the entire two weeks. He lived through absorbing nutrients from the vegetation that was around him and prevented his need for sleep by using meditation as a substitute. He was essentially in another hibernation period, except he was building his power and was conscious for the entire time. Okara occasionally took breaks from his meditation to see when the sun had risen and had set, and made sure to count the amounts of each sunrise and sunset until it had been two weeks. Once the sun had risen on that fateful day, Okara stopped meditating. He had built up a moderate amount of external ki from the life around him. When he stood up and looked around, most of the plants around him were wilting or old. He felt empowered and excited. Feeling good about his current power level, Okara flew off for the tournament with the directions given to him by Gonkuro and the map.

As he was flying towards the island where the tournament was held, he saw that the many people below him were flashing light at him. They didn't hurt him, so he ignored them, but it was still annoying. After a while of flying, he noticed that the flying vehicles that had previously attacked him before was now following him, but instead of shooting small bullets, it was also flashing lights at him. _They must be trying to distract me. It won't work._ Okara continued to fly, ignoring the people's many lights.

And then, Okara arrived at what looked like the tournament itself. Okara landed at what he assumed was the entrance. There had been hundreds of people crowding around it, but when they saw Okara hover down, most of them screamed in terror and ran away, either away from the entrance or into it. Okara expected them to do that. But what he didn't expect were the two statues that greeted him at the entrance. They were big and made of a strong stone material. They both depicted the same image: A hairy man with an afro and a beard yelling something while putting one hand on his hip and the other in the air, with his index and middle finger raised. _This guy looks like an amateur,_ thought Okara. _If he was anywhere close to being the strongest on Earth, then I have nothing to worry about._

Okara walked into the entrance of the tournament, not caring in the slightest about the other competitors who were deathly afraid of him. The man who he met that was supposed to sign him in also kept the same attitude towards him.

"My name is Okara," the saiyan said to the shivering tournament administrator with a pen and a clipboard. The man didn't say anything back.

"Did you hear me correctly? It's Okara. Oh-Kar-Ah. Do you understand?" Okara said, trying to sound as non-threatening as he possibly could. The man still didn't respond. Okara rolled his eyes.

"Seriously? Just tell me, do you have it written down or-"

"Y-Y-Y-Y-Yes! I have it written down."

"…Thanks," said Okara. He walked past the relieved man and into a huge courtyard, where the majority of competitors were located. Again, they all seemed deathly afraid of him, which made him annoyed even more. However, there was one object in the courtyard that caught his attention and instantly stopped him from being peeved.

There was a statue in the courtyard. It was similar to the statue at the entrance to the tournament in that it was made from the same material, but this one was smaller, and it had a different figure that it portrayed. The person it emulated was so incredibly familiar to Okara. Then it clicked. Okara had no idea how he remembered this moment, but the statue was an adult version of the baby saiyan that had bumped into Okara's ship all those years ago. He was just standing there, in this statue, without his traditional saiyan armor, smiling. _Could this… Earth… be the planet that this saiyan was assigned to? Was he like me? Did he learn to love the lifeforms on this planet like how I did with the Boreans…?_

"Hello there, Okara."

Being caught off guard in thought, Okara turned around clumsily. He was surprised by the person behind him. It was a green man of the same height as him, with antennae, wearing a strange brownish yellow long-sleeved shirt with two pieces of blue purple cloths draped over his shoulders. He wore baggy, reddish purple pants with brown pointed shoes. There was also somebody right behind him; he was an individual of the same species, but he had darker skin and was much taller and bulkier. He was shirtless, wearing only two big cyan colored cloths over his shoulders and a white bundle of cloth wrapped around his neck. He wore brown pants and black pointed shoes. To Okara, this was incredibly bizarre. _So Earth houses not only Saiyans and Earthlings, but this race too?!_ While Okara was indeed taken aback by this, he managed to reply.

"Hello…"

"I'm Ashik, in case you were wondering. The person behind me is Tyriko-"

"Yup!" said the large man while forming an aggressive smile.

"-And based on your facial expression, you seem to be puzzled by our existence."

"Wait. I never said that," retorted Okara.

Ashik smiled. "There is no need to feel ashamed. I understand. You're confused about how three different races could possibly live on one planet at a time, correct?" _How did he read me? Could he really tell that just by looking at my face?!_ "Um… Yeah, a little bit. I apologize."

"There is no need. We're Namekians, and all of us look like this. You just need to get used to it, is all. I've heard you are trying to meet the saiyans residing on this planet. Could you tell me why?" Ashik asked. Okara couldn't figure the namekian out; unlike Gonkuro, he couldn't tell if Ashik was distrusting of him, or if he understood his motives. He couldn't read him; however, on the other hand, Ashik seemed like he could easily read Okara.

"It's for personal reasons," Okara responded.

"Ah. I see. Well, I wish you good luck on your mission, Okara."

As Ashik walked away, Tyriko followed him. However, when passing Okara, Okara heard the big namekian whisper, " _As long you're really who you say you are, saiyan_."

And so Okara realized that the namekians, or at least Tyriko, thought he was a threat. He was fine with that, however; he understood why they would think that. But then, suddenly, as soon as the two namekians left Okara, a crowd of mostly female Earthlings had dashed to the namekians with a marker and a paper, yelling out Ashik's name and pleading him for what they called an "autograph." Ashik casually started to write on their papers with their pen while being indifferent, yet kind. Okara was confused, but he had been confused all day, and so he wrote it off as another incident where he wasn't used to Earth's customs. He did figure out that the earthlings were very bothered by his presence, as the crowd only came after the namekians had left him. The sound coming from the yelling of the crowd also annoyed him, so Okara simply flew away from the courtyard of the tournament near the entrance. He found another tournament courtyard that wasn't as big and as populated as the other one, and flew down there. However, there, he spotted his rival, Gonkuro, talking with another person, with this new person's power level actually exceeding Gonkuro's. Okara couldn't believe it.

The two were walking into the courtyard from a small entrance on the outside, so Okara confronted them by landing in front of both of them. They had been conversating before Okara flew down to them, so they both looked surprised when meeting him.

"Oh… Okara! Hey," said Gonkuro. He seemed to be off guard when Okara caught him, much like how Okara was when meeting Ashik.

"Hi. Who are you talking to?" Okara seemed to want to get straight to the point.

"Oh. Yeah, this is Shorts. He's my… friend."

"Uh… Hi. I don't think we've met." Shorts extended out his hand. Gonkuro was wearing different clothes than he was yesterday, and Shorts was wearing the same outfit as Gonkuro. They both were wearing a purple gi with white pointy shoulder pads that connected to a big white collar that surrounded their entire necks. They had a red belt on and black shoes with socks. Their clothes actually reminded Okara of the namekians' clothes. However, Shorts was different from Gonkuro in that he had cyan hair, blue eyes, and light yellow skin; however, his hair was spiky, exactly like what a saiyan's hair would look like. What was most noticeable about Shorts was his power; it was greater than both Gonkuro and Okara's power levels. Okara shook Shorts's hand.

"Hello." Shorts's grip was firm.

"So," said Gonkuro, stepping in between the two. "Are you sure you're ready to fight in the tournament? It's definitely not going to be easy to win, I'll tell you that."

"Oh, you don't even know." The two stepped closer to each other, looking each other in the eyes with fierce glares.

Shorts realized the two's animosity, and tried to put a stop to it before it was too late. He stepped in between them. "Hey, you two. Save it for the tournament."

Gonkuro snickered, while Okara kept a straight, indifferent face. The two knew that the other hated them, no matter how hard they tried to hide their hatred. They were going to fight eventually, they had to, and they both loved the anticipation. "Alright, I guess," said Gonkuro, pushing past Okara to get into the central tournament building. Shorts took one last glance at the indifferent faced Okara, and then followed Gonkuro. _Shorts doesn't act stronger than Gonkuro; if my senses are to be trusted, I can't underestimate him. That may be what he wants._

So, having nothing else to do, he meditated under one of the courtyard's trees, waiting for the tournament begin. He wanted to try and look for a saiyan that was participating in the tournament, but he knew it would be a waste of time. There were way too many participants. Hundreds of warriors gathered in this one, massive tournament complex. So, instead of wasting his time, he lowered his guard, and relaxed, meditating under a tree and conserving his energy. He was going to take it easy.

"YO! YOU'RE THAT SAIYAN, ON T.V!"

Okara opened his eyes, and was completely startled by what he saw. It was a female earthling's face. Except it was upside-down.

Okara practically fell back in shock. "You…! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?! Learn some manners!" She started to laugh, a lot. Once his vision had cleared and had processed what had happened, he saw what she looked like. The girl was hanging upside down on one of the long branches on the tree he was sitting on. She held a half-eaten apple in her hand, and her laughing caused her to spit out a good amount of apple from her mouth. She had black eyes and a yellowish peach skin color, and looked to be around sixteen years old. She was wearing a dark green ki that covered her from her left shoulder to her right side, and a binder underneath her gi. She also wore a wide, red cloth around her waist, her gi had a yellow finish near her ankles, and she wore black shoes. Her most noticeable feature, however, was that she was bald.

"Oh! Oh, jeez, I got ya good! Ha!" _She's much different from the other earthlinigs,_ Okara observed. _First of all, she's laughing at me while all the other earthlings hide from me. Second of all, her power level, while not being especially high, is many leagues above a normal earthling. She has some power._

The girl hopped down from the tree, wiping tears from her eyes. She was still chuckling. "Ah… Sorry 'bout that! I just wanna make a big first impression, especially when meeting someone as big as you, 'yanno?"

"Yeah… okay. Tell me again, who are you?"

"Oh yeah! Name's Izumi!" she stuck out her hand.

"…Okara." He took her hand, but instead of shaking normally, Izumi shook it incredibly violently.

"So, Okara! You're an interesting character! Came from space just two weeks ago, wants to meet up with his race! Quite the character!" Izumi said while continuing to shake his hand.

"Mhm."

"Say, Okara! How are you even here, anyways? Your home kinda exploded into a million bajillion pieces, like, a hundred years ago. What's up with that? Also, where did ya come from? If you didn't come from your home planet, where did you live for all that time? Also, how do you look so young? I know a saiyan's aging process is slowed down, but shouldn't you be like 80 by now? Also, do you have any cool new techniques I don't know about? Can ya show 'em to me? Man, would it be cool to-"

"Listen, Izumi," interrupted Okara. "I know that you're very eager to know more about me, but could you not be so rude? You're trying to ask me at least five questions in the time span of a minute. Learn to have patience."

Izumi blinked a couple of times. "You… you kinda remind me of my master. Okara, was it?"

"Yes."

"Okay! Nice meetin' you Okara! It's about time for role call, so I'll see ya later! Good luck!" Izumi said, speeding off to the central tournament building.

Okara sighed. _That was exhausting_ , he thought to himself. He then continued to meditate. However, after some time, he heard a bell being struck. The girl was right- all the competitors seemed to be walking towards the central tournament building. He was prepared and energized to fight. He was ready for any challenge, any obstacle that would come his way.

o – o – o – o – o

 _Okara had met most of his biggest competition, but is there anyone else strong enough to take him down that he hasn't met yet?_

 _Will Okara be successful in winning his first ever tournament, or will he lose just like his rival, Gonkuro, implies he will?_

 _Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter of Dragon Ball Newcomers!_


	6. 2: The Test of Power

It was time, and Okara was ready.

He heard a bell ring. As soon as he had opened his eyes, he saw tens of dozens of earthlings rush into the doors of what looked like the central tournament building. Then he heard a loud voice come from the structure.

" _All Tournament participants, please enter the door closest to your surrounding areas! The striking power examination will begin shortly!_ "

 _Striking power examination, huh?_ _Seems a bit unnecessary. I'm already a league above everyone else._ Despite his small hesitations, he got up and started to walk towards the doors. Everyone else immediately moved out of his way as he walked to the entrance, as he had expected. _All I have to do is endure the rest of this silly tournament,_ he thought to himself. He entered the building.

Immediately, he was faced with a crowd of more than some hundred earthlings. The central building was huge, being much bigger than he had imagined. In the center was some sort of gigantic contraption. It was completely covered in a metal, and it had a big round circle that came out of its side. A few feet above the circle, there was a black rectangle. The machine was enormous; It was at least 50 feet high and 30 feet wide. Everyone was surrounding the machine.

A man who he met at the main entrance who was scared of him was now holding a clipboard and calling out everyone's name. Okara immediately answered when he heard his name, but he wasn't focused on anything else at the moment except on finding the people of his race. He was told many times by the Boreans that his original race, the Saiyans, were completely made up of warriors. If that were so, it would only make sense that they would be participating in the tournament. Okara, imagining them having extremely high power levels, scanned the room for anyone with a bigger power level than himself other than the warriors he had previously met. However, he couldn't sense anyone matching his criteria. _They must be hiding their power level_ , he thought. Then, after half an hour, the same, loud voice that called everyone in spoke again.

" _Alright! The striking power elimination will now begin! As your name gets called, please step up to the punching machine and hit the big, red button! Remember: Don't hold back! The tournament administrators are very aware of what some of the people here are capable of, and so, we have asked the head of Capsule Corporation to design a punching machine that would withstand and accurately measure your power! Do not be afraid! Once your striking power has been recorded, please step away from the machine and wait for everyone else to finish! Remember: This is the tournament that decides the fate of who the next Champion of Earth will be, due to the absence of the current Champ! This is an especially important tournament, and so,_ _ **we will only be accepting the top eight highest striking powers!**_ _Thank you everyone! The elimination round of the Tournament of Champions will now commence_!"

 _Hmm… Now I doubt it can handle my full power… but I am curious to see how the others do,_ thought Okara, referring to the others he had met earlier. The earthlings came by quickly, with most of them getting in between 1's and 3's. And then it was Okara's turn.

 _I think I'm going to hold back, but not by too much. I think 50% will do nicely._

Okara stepped up next to the huge button. He pulled back his arm slowly, taking in a deep breath, and making sure he only used exactly 50% of his full power. Then he shot his fist forward, into the firm cushion that was the button. As he hit it, a huge gust of wind flew in every direction, pushing the normal earthlings back. The black rectangle started to run through thousands of different combinations of numbers, like it had done with all the other fighters, but after a minute of loading, Okara had gotten his final score: **526,743**.

" _You saw it here first, folks! The new, mysterious saiyan has a punching score of 526,743!_ "

Okara took another deep breath, and went back into the crowd. He crossed his arms. _526,743, and with only half my power… I'm even more curious to see the others, now._

More earthlings came by and tested themselves accordingly. They all got their scores as, again, from a range of 1 to 3. Of course, however, the people he had met earlier got much higher scores. However, nearing the end, Okara noticed a group of three familiar looking people that had not gone yet. They had black, spiky hair, a tan, yellow skin color, and armor that looked like Okara's except they weren't cracked, old, and covered in moss. It was undeniable; they were saiyans.

On the right, there was a taller than average saiyan with a horizontal hair line. He had very long hair that touched the floor and a narrow nose and a pointy chin. He was, by far, the weakest out of the three. On the right was a medium sized saiyan who had a stocky frame. He very short spiky hair that stood up, and a straight, square chin and facial structure. He was the second strongest out of the three. In the middle, there was a shorter than average saiyan with hair that stood out with large spikes in all directions, making his head somewhat resemble a cat's head. He had a short, soft face with big eyes, a small nose, a small mouth, and a pointy chin. He seemed to be the most brooding out of the three, but he was by far the strongest.

As they were walking towards the button in unison, Okara walked up to them and tried to talk to them. "Hey, you're all saiyans, right?" The second strongest saiyan on the right looked at Okara with an angry expression. "You're the saiyan from space that we've heard so much about! You think you're some hot shot, huh?! Just because you came from space doesn't give you the right to prance around-"

"Stop talking to him. He isn't a real saiyan, not until he proves it first. Got that, Totoma?" said the strongest saiyan in the middle, glaring at the second strongest saiyan. Totoma looked at the saiyan in the middle with more anger than he did with Okara. "You don't scare me. You know that, right Kyuuri?" said the second strongest saiyan, threatening the saiyan in the middle. They both stepped up towards each other, giving each other a dangerous expression. However, Kyuuri seemed to be more confident than Totoma; he had more of a smug look. The crowd started to move away from the three.

Then, the saiyan on the left interjected. "Hey, guys. We have an examination to do. You both can fight later, but right now, we need to get our scores," he said. "Well said, Kallabash. Just remind this dolt to calm down," Kyuuri said harshly. Totoma looked like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Why you-" he said, before Kyuuri pushed him towards the button. He mumbled a few curse words before yelling and punching the button.

He got a score of **92,870**. Totoma couldn't say anything, and had his mouth agape. He had a score that was less than Izumi, the sixteen year old girl with the green ki that Okara had met earlier. Izumi's loud laughter could be heard in the back of the room. Even Kyuuri chuckled. "Guess you weren't as strong as you thought, after all," remarked Kyuuri. As he finished his statement, he pushed the saiyan on the left, Kallabash, up to punch the button. As expected, he did even worse, getting a score of **88,245**.

Okara couldn't believe what he was seeing. Saiyans, his race that he was taught to believe was the strongest race in the universe, couldn't get a punching score that could match a sixteen year old earthling. But the examination wasn't over.

The saiyan known as Kyuuri gave a smirk, and went up to the machine. He punched the button, releasing a massive pressure of wind, and getting a score of **586,129**. His smirk faded. "This machine is broken," he stated. "My score should've been the highest." A couple of engineers came over and started checking the machine for any problems. After a few minutes, Kyuuri gave up. "Forget it. All that matters is that I'm in the tournament. Now, let's go, losers," he said, motioning to the other two saiyans.

Okara then had a thought. _They must be holding back, as I am. That's why their power levels are so low! The other two probably overestimated their abilities. That is a trait of saiyans, after all._ Okara smiled as he reassured himself. _That means their actual power is something I have yet to find out._ That thought made him excited.

Finally, the eight competitors were decided. Their ranking and power levels were shown on screens that hung from the ceilings all over the central tournament building. It read, from first to last place:

Shorts with **1,227,546**.

Gonkuro with **1,192,351**.

Ashik with **695,912**.

Tyriko with **591,632**.

Kyuuri with **586,129**.

Okara with **526,743**.

Izumi with **108,276**.

And finally, Ayumu with **100,000**.

Okara didn't even realize it, but the eighth competitor had been decided earlier, beating even the other two saiyans. He looked like a weak earthling; a short haired blonde young adult who wore a vest and a long-sleeved shirt with glasses. He didn't look or feel powerful. In fact, when Okara had sensed for his power level, he couldn't sense anything. The kid didn't give off any ki at all, and Okara wrote him off as another weakling. It was apparent to him now that that was not the case. However, he quickly got his mind off of that. Right now, he needed to focus.

" _Alriiight! We're running a bit later than anticipated, so let's just start this thing right now! Everyone except the eight competitors, please leave and take a seat with the rest of the audience! If you are one of the top eight, please proceed towards the small door to the left of the room! The tournament will begin momentarily!_ "

As the other fighters stepped out of the room, Okara and the eight other competitors stepped inside the small one. This room was more of a lounge, having couches, short tables, a fridge, and a big window looking out onto the open arena. There were two large hallways to the left and right of the room, and there were signs above it that read, "First Competitor" and "Second Competitor." It was quite straightforward.

The eight competitors went straight in. Kyuuri, the short saiyan with messy hair, sat down in the corner of the room with his arms crossed. Ayumu, the weakest out of the eight, nervously scrambled to a one-seated couch and began reading the newspaper. He seemed to be panicking, breathing very heavily. Ashik and Tyriko, the two green foreign aliens, sat down on one of the couches on the other side of the room. Shorts, entering the room with Gonkuro, started to walk towards the two aliens, pulling Gonkuro with him. Gonkuro however pulled his arm back. "You go ahead. I just want to give our friend, Okara, a little talk, okay?" Shorts nodded in response, and headed to sit down and chat with the two green men by himself. Then Okara entered the room.

"Yo, Okara!" exclaimed Gonkuro. The full blooded saiyan subtlety glared at him. "Just wondering, but, you got any questions about the tournament?"

"Yeah. How does this whole thing work? How do we know when we fight, and who we're fighting?"

"Ah, yeah! Of course. I take it you've never been to a tournament, right?"

"Of course I haven't. Just tell me what I need to know."

"Right, right. So you see that big black board looking screen all the way over there, right above the spectators behind the arena?"

"Yeah."

"Really soon, it'll show us who we're fighting. Our names will be shown on the screen, and the one next to yours is the one you'll be fighting. They'll also call your name. If you're the first person called up, you go through the "First Competitor" hallway. If you're the second, you go through the "Second Competitor" one. They both lead to the arena. Got that?"

"Sure."

"Once the announcer tells you to begin, you can fight. Do whatever you want, just try not to break the ring and _definitely_ avoid hurting the audience. If you knock your opponent out of the ring or if you make them unconscious, you win. If they do that to you, they win."

"Mhm."

"If you lose, you'll be escorted out by the tournament officials. You can choose to either leave or watch the rest of the tournament with the rest of the audience. If you win, you come back from the same entrance you came from, and back into this room for your next fight. Once the tournament is over, you get to go wherever you want. That includes going to find where the rest of your race resides. But, I get a feeling you could do that just as easily by asking that guy," said Gonkuro pointing to Kyuuri. Kyuuri, sitting in the corner, didn't react to Gonkuro's statement. "Got all of that? That's pretty much it."

"Yes. That was informative. Thank you," said Okara, trying to act politely. Gonkuro smirked. "But don't think you'll win, buddy. Best you can manage is probably getting to the finals, if you even make it that far."

Okara's respectful façade immediately ceased. "You wish. I will win; you're only trying to deny that due to your false pride. Just you watch."

Gonkuro chuckled. He was about to say something in response, until the black screen lit up. Everyone came to the large, square window then. Even Kyuuri came.

The lineup went as follows:

 **Shorts vs. Tyriko**

 **Gonkuro vs. Kyuuri**

 **Okara vs. Izumi**

 **Ayumu vs. Ashik**

Kyuuri, after taking one glance at the boad, casually went back into his corner. Ashik scratched his head wondering who his competitor was, while Ayumu shook with what looked like fear. Tyriko laughed a little, saying, "Shit. And I thought I was going to make it far in the tournament." This was followed shortly after with Shorts trying to comfort Tyriko. It ended with Gonkuro looking disappointed, saying, "Man. I guess I won't be fighting Okara after all, at least in the tournament."

Okara looked surprised. "What are you talking about? Of course we're going to be fighting." Gonkuro turned his head towards Okara and smiled. "You'll see, buddy." He walked over with Shorts to the couches, and they both sat down. The saiyan didn't seem to care about Gonkuro enough to get angry; he was too fixated on Kyuuri. He was trying to read him, but all Kyuuri seemed to do was meditate in the corner. So, Okara approached him.

"Hey," he said, walking up to the short saiyan. "Could you please tell me something about our race? What our society is like, what the people are like? Anything?" Kyuuri looked back, squinting. "Look. Until you prove to us or me that you're truly a saiyan, I won't recognize you as one. Right now, you're just a foreign alien to me, as well as the rest of my race. Got that? Now get out of my face." Kyuuri turned back to his corner.

Okara sighed. His mission was to reunite, learn about, and lead his race, yet they don't even recognize him as one of their own. He didn't know what he was going to do. He started to walk away from Kyuuri, until something jumped on him.

"SUP, OKARA! HOW'S IT GOING!"

It was Izumi, and she had him in some kind of neck-lock position. It obviously wasn't very effective; she was much shorter than him, so she was essentially hanging off the ground. Still, he didn't want to throw a sixteen year old girl onto the hard, wooden floor.

"Hey… Brat!" Okara gurgled, trying to talk while being choked out. "Get… the hell… OFF OF ME!"

Izumi hopped off of him, and started to laugh loudly. "Hahah! If that's all you've got, then you're gonna have a lot of trouble against me in the tournament!"

Okara rubbed the back of his neck. _This girl is insane! She attacked me for completely no reason!_ Okara thought. His composure still remained, however. "I didn't want to hurt you too bad, is all. I would have killed you if I actually fought back."

"Mhm. Keep telling yourself that, dude," Izumi said playfully. "But ima just say this once: don't underestimate me. I'm much stronger than I look."

"Mhm. Keep telling yourself that, dude," Okara said mockingly. "But _I'm_ just going to say this once: you will never be able to defeat me, earthling. You can get as strong as you want, but I've been training too hard for this moment to lose."

Izumi chuckled. "I like your style," she commented. "Actually… to be honest, you really do remind me of my master. When he gets cranky, that is."

"Oh yeah? Does he know of a thing called 'manners'? Because I don't think he does, considering how you act."

Izumi blinked twice. "Are… are you sure you aren't related to him?"

"What if I am?"

"…Then that would be cool as balls."

"Balls are _not_ cool."

"Oh, I'm sure you would know," Izumi said, laughing. "Up top, dude!" She raised her palm up next to Okara. He didn't move an inch.

"Down low?" She moved it downwards. He still didn't flinch.

"Too slow! Gotcha! Get destroyed!"

"I wasn't even aware-"

"Nope. Countin' that one!" Izumi exclaimed as she walked away triumphantly, landing on one of the couches. Okara didn't know whether to be angry or tired. But, he quickly snapped out of it. The first fight was about to begin.

" _HELLO EVERYBODYYY!"_ The crowd cheered with applause. _"-AND WELCOME TO THE TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS! Now, for the people who aren't aware, YES! This IS called the tournament of champions. Recently, our beloved current Champion went into the depths of outer space to check out if there was anything or anyone left on that catastrophic event that occurred on Namek, years ago. She's been gone for months now, and so, at the request of our current Guardian of Earth, Dende, we need a temporary replacement! HOW BETTER TO DECIDE A TEMPORARY CHAMP THEN TO HOLD A TOURNAMENT, AM I RIGHT FOLKS?!"_ The crowd cheered with even more excitement.

" _ALRIIIGHHHTT! Now, that we've covered the basics, LET'S GET STRAIGHT INTO THE FIGHTING! May the first two competitors, Shorts and Tyriko, please, start walking down your respective hallways!"_

Tyriko chuckled, and then sighed. "Out of everyone, it had to be you, huh… Guess I pulled the short straw."

"Hey, don't be too hard on yourself, Tyriko," said Shorts, comforting his opponent. "I'm sure you'll do fine." Shorts put his sword that was strapped to his back on one of the couches.

"Hah. Coming from you. Hey, whattya say? Let's give the audience a show."

"That is what they came here for."

The two warriors looked at each other, nodding, and then headed into their hallways. Okara, Gonkuro, Ashik, and Izumi all headed out to look outside the window. Gonkuro then nudged Okara. "Watch, and pay attention to the fight." Okara shunned him, but he listened. He was pretty curious.

" _OKAY! IN THE LEFT CORNER, WE HAVE SHORTS! HE'S THE TOP SEED IN THIS TOURNAMENT FOLKS, AND I'M SURE HE'S OUT TO PROVE IT TO US, TOO! HE'S THE SIMULTANEOUS DECENDANT OF BOTH THE FOUNDER OF CAPSULE CORP. AND THE PRINCE OF ALL SAIYANS, VEGETA! TALK ABOUT ROYAL BLOOD! AS A CHILD, HE'D TRAIN ON KAMI'S LOOKOUT WITH HIS LIFELONG FRIEND, GONKURO! HOWEVER, RECENTLY, HE'S BEEN NEGLECTING HIS RESPONSIBILITIES AS HERO AND SUCCESSOR TO CAPSULE CORP, AND NOW SPENDS ALL OF HIS TIME GOOFING AROUND WITH HIS BEST BUDDY! STILL, HE'S IMMENSELY STRONG DUE TO HIS INTENSE TRAINING UP IN THE SKY, AND PROBABLY STRONGER THAN EVERYONE HERE!_ "

 _He's a descendant… of THE Prince Vegeta?! Is that why his power level is so high?!_ Okara thought. He glanced at Gonkuro to see his reaction. Gonkuro looked back, smirking. "Keep watching." Okara then looked back outside. His eyes were glued on the blue haired warrior.

" _IN THE RIGHT CORNER, WE HAVE TYRIKO! HE'S THE PROUD, REVOLUTIONARY MAIN GENERAL OF THE NAMEKIANS! BORN IN THE DRAGON CLAN AS A HEALER, HE MET MUCH ADVERSITY WHEN TRYING TO TRAIN AS A WARRIOR, BUT HE PULLED THROUGH AND MANAGED TO WIN LITERALLY EVERYONE'S RESPECT! NOW HE'S BOTH AN AMAZING WARRIOR AND AN UNPARALLELED HEALER! A DOUBLE PACKAGE! HE'S KNOWN FOR HIS GAME-CHANGING EFFORTS DURING THE FIRST SAIYAN INVASION AND HIS CURRENT POSITION AS THE MENTOR FOR THE UPCOMING NAMEKIAN GUARDIAN! WE HAVE A SUPER STRONG VETERAN AND STRATEGIST ON OUR HANDS THAT SHOULD DEFINITELY NOT BE UNDERESTIMATED!_ "

Both of the warriors stepped out of their hallways, and started to get on the arena. They both got cheered for an incredible amount, with most of the earthlings, who were taking up about 90% of the audience, cheering for Shorts, and most of the namekians in the audience cheering for Tyriko. As they got close to each other, the both bowed. They looked at each other.

"Hey kid. I know you want to, but don't hold back. I sure as hell won't."

"I know that already. But for your own safety, I'm going to have to pull my punches a bit. Sorry about that."

"Hm. So be it."

" _NOW…"_

" _LET THE TOURNAMENT…_ _ **BEGIN!**_ _"_

o – o – o – o – o

 _The Tournament of Champions has just begun, with the first battle being between the grandson of Vegeta, Shorts, against the legendary Namekian, Tyriko!_

 _Will Shorts win with his overwhelming offense, or will Tyriko pull out a victory with his strategic fighting style?_

 _What does Gonkuro mean when he says that he won't actually be fighting Okara in the tournament?_

 _How did Ayumu, a normal earthling, get such a high and accurate power score? Who is he?_

 _Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter of Dragon Ball Newcomers!_


	7. 3: A Saiyan Scorned

" _LET THE TOURNAMENT…_ _**BEGIN!"**_

Shorts took the initiative. The cyan haired fighter charged directly at Tyriko, readying a punch. Tyriko crossed both of his arms, successfully blocking the attack; however, more punches came. Tyriko could feel every single punch, and it didn't feel good. However, the experienced namekian kept blocking.

 _What is he thinking?_ thought Shorts, as he kept up his barrage of punches. _I know he's a master strategist, so he has to have a plan up his sleeve… right?_ Tyriko blocked every punch that Shorts threw with precision, but Shorts's avalanche of fists gradually pushed Tyriko back. They were both getting close to the edge of the arena. _This is it!_ Shorts pulled back his arm to deliver one final, powerful punch, but once seeing this, Tyriko chuckled. He swiftly vanished away, narrowly avoiding the blow. Shorts, however, was left unbalanced. Seeing this, Tyriko took his opportunity to catch him off guard.

 _Woah! Alright, I have to admit he caught me by surprise… but I know what he's going to do. He's going to try to use my unbalanced posture against me to knock me off, but that's not going to work!_ Shorts, after a few milliseconds of pretending to be off guard and unbalanced, readied himself. He pretended as if he was still off balance by acting as if he were struggling to stand. _Once he stretches his arm to punch me or if he shoots a ki blast at me, I'll be ready to dodge it effortlessly and counter-attack! This is too easy!_ In an instant, Shorts heard the sound of a projectile coming his way. _I knew it! He stretched his arm to punch me!_ Shorts turned around to see what he expected, and so he maneuvered around the arm by jumping to the side. _Piece of cake!_

However, he didn't expect what came next. Before missing and hitting the arena floor, the arm rapidly changed its direction and came around Shorts, like a lasso. It immediately wrapped itself around Shorts, and squeezed him. _What?! But… I thought…_

Okara was stunned. _Those green guys can stretch now?! What are they made of, rubber?!_

Shorts yelled in pain as Tyriko flew down to the floor a few meters away from Shorts. "Heh… you thought you had me there, huh?" Tyriko proudly stated. _Huh?! How did he…?_ Tyriko smirked. "Kid, I'm called the best strategist on this planet for a reason. Once I saw your face twitch, I knew that you were confident in what you thought I was planning, but you were completely wrong." Tyriko's smirk turned colder. "You still don't seem to understand how I'm much more of a threat than you think I am based on your hair staying the same color, so…" The arm pulled Shorts towards Tyriko in a quick succession and at the same time, it unraveled, letting Shorts fly loose into Tyriko's extended fist. Shorts's spit came flying out as Tyriko's knuckles embedded itself into his stomach. "…So I guess I'm going to have to teach you the hard way."

Tyriko's fist then launched Shorts diagonally at what looked like a perfect forty-five degree angle. Shorts went soaring, and he was ready to use his ki to fly and escape to take a breather, but he was met with another extending arm, with it wrapping itself around Shorts once more. Shorts, again, was pulled to Tyriko at an alarming rate, and then released halfway. However, this time, at the same time that Shorts was flying back to Tyriko's original position, Tyriko flew towards Shorts at a blinding speed. The namekian's fist connected once again, except this time, it was much, much harder. Tyriko did this again, punching him and sending the young adult flying, except this time in a different direction, and doing the exact same action. _This guy… he's using my acceleration and momentum that's being attained from him swinging me around with his arm to his advantage, by making each punch he lands that much harder! And not only that, but…_

"But I'm also accelerating towards you at the same time, making my punches twice as powerful? Your face is giving away everything you're thinking. You're honestly like an open book, its too easy," exclaimed Tyriko, still pounding at the blue haired boy's body. _What the hell?! He's reading my thoughts just by looking at my face?! Is that even physically possible?!_

Tyriko smirked. "Yeah, I am actually doing this, by the way. I'm not bullshitting, to answer your question. Just a technique I picked up while training on Namek." He then launched Shorts towards him at a faster rate than he had done before, and moved much quicker. "If you're still going to hold back, you're going to regret it, kid!" Tyriko exclaimed. "Show me that golden ki!"

 _Golden ki? What is he… No… that's impossible!_ thought Okara. _Could it be… that he has the power to turn into a Super Saiyan?! The last time I've actually even heard about that legend was when I was still in my pod during my travel to Borea! It's said to increase your power by fifty times… But it's also supposed to be unheard of! Just a myth!_ Okara turned to look at Gonkuro to try and read him, to see if it was true. Gonkuro had the biggest smile on his face. "C'mon, Shorts," he whispered. "Give 'em hell."

While accelerating downwards towards Tyriko, Shorts closed his eyes and took a deep breath. And then, with a huge flash of golden light, he yelled. In an instant, his ki had risen immensely. He was now glowing yellow, with his hair also shining that same color. He had become a super saiyan. Seeing this, Tyriko seemed overjoyed. "Heh. Finally. Let's see what you've got, kid."

Okara had his mouth open, and gasped. Gonkuro turned his face to Okara. "Surprised, buddy?" Okara quickly turned his face back into his normal poker face. "No, I was merely caught off guard. I didn't expect quarter-saiyans like him to be able to turn into a super saiyan." Gonkuro seemed to know what Okara's thoughts were. "Yeah. Okay." _Am I dreaming, or is this really happening?! Only a pure hearted saiyan that has been pushed to their absolute peak of anger is supposed to be able to unlock it, not some blue haired wannabe! This is absurd!_

Shorts casually took off his white cloth that was around his neck. He threw it down to the fighting arena, sending it crashing into the ground, making a small crater. It was weighted. Meanwhile, Tyriko got into a fighting pose. They were both floating in the air, being a good amount above the arena. Shorts smiled at the old general. "You're an absolute genius, Tyriko. I have to give you that." Tyriko chuckled. "You can say that again." Shorts cracked his neck, and then he stopped smiling. He vanished behind Tyriko, catching him off guard. "But, even so…" Shorts punched Tyriko in the face, sending him crashing down. "Your smarts won't be able to keep up. Strategic knowledge is useless to a person when their opponent is that much more powerful," stated Shorts bluntly.

Tyriko got up, laughing, but injured. He started to chuckle, but as he did that, he also seemed to regenerate his wounds. "Those are some fighting words. What makes you say that?"

In response, Shorts then seemed to teleport behind Tyriko using his incredible speed. "You can figure it out for yourself. Look at the situation you're in right now." The green warrior turned around as fast as he could, trying to react to Shorts and counter-attack, but he wasn't fast enough. In the blink of an eye, Shorts hit him up into the air. Tyriko, after flying a while in the air, stabilized himself and started to float. Using his height advantage, Tyriko began raining down a barrage of ki blasts onto Shorts. Shorts, flying upwards towards Tyriko, effortlessly dodged each and every single one. Once getting close to Tyriko, he then vanished again, and hit him once more into the ground. "Before, in my base form, I was stronger than you. But you made up for that gap with your smarts, catching me off guard and getting the initial successful barrage of hits." Tyriko, after landing on the floor, yelled in what seemed like protest. He then began firing another barrage of ki blasts, and again, Shorts dodged every single one, and hit Tyriko into the air. "However, now that I'm a super saiyan, it's different now. The gap is wider, too wide for you to manage. Even if you are the smartest man on Earth, as long as I'm that much faster and stronger than you, you won't be able to touch me."

"Thanks for that lesson, kid. I, as one of the best minds on the planet, think I finally get that concept now," Tyriko said sarcastically. Yet again, he kept on firing a barrage of ki blasts and missing every single one, leading to him getting hit and regenerating once more. It occurred over and over. Shorts noticed this pattern. "This isn't going to work, Tyriko. If you truly understand what I'm trying to get at, then you should also realize the futility of your situation. You're running out of ki, and all your attacks have failed. I don't want to sound harsh, but… you should just give up."

Tyriko smiled slyly. "Hey, you arrogant bastard. Look around you."

Shorts, after making sure that Tyriko wasn't going to attack him again, looked at his current environment. He was shocked. Everywhere he looked around him were Tyriko's ki attacks, floating in the air as orbs. They were immobile, and simply floating still in the air, covering the entire arena, and waiting for their chance to jump on him. Shorts realized the predicament he was in, but as soon as he processed it, Tyriko had flew behind him, putting his arms underneath Shorts's arms and securing them, locking the super saiyan into a nelson hold.

"This is it, kid! _**HELLZONE GRENADE!**_ " 

As if they were all working in sync with one another, every single one of the ki orbs flew in unison towards both Tyriko and Shorts, and creating a gargantuan explosion that encompassed the entire arena. Smoke went flying everywhere, causing everyone in the audience to be left with nervous anticipation. Once some of the smoke cleared, Tyriko was seen some distance away from the center of the explosion. He was panting profusely with multiple severe battle injuries, and was looking at the center of the arena. Once all of the smoke cleared, however, everyone saw Shorts, standing tall and barely hurt with an outline of bright, white ki around him.

As soon as Tyriko saw Shorts, he smiled. "Damn. Clever bastard." Shorts, once making sure there were no more ki orbs, looked at Tyriko with awe. "That… was really close." Tyriko got up, dusting himself off. "So, kid… how did you do it?" "Simple. I was trained by the greatest namekian warrior of my time, Mr. Piccolo. He used to do that to me and Gonkuro all the time in our sparring sessions, so it was just instinct that I-"

"That you naturally formed a ki barrier around yourself using most of your ki reserves, negating the attack. Of course." Shorts smiled. "Yep, you pretty much got the gist of it. But now…" Shorts dropped his ki barrier and lowered his energy. "…I assume that you know it's pretty much over. Why don't you just step off the arena?"

Tyriko laughed. "Ha! Really? 'Step off the arena'? Fuck that! I'm going out old school, kid." He got into his fighting pose once again. "If I'm going to lose, I'm going to lose fighting. I am _not_ going to disgrace Namek due to the likes of you." Shorts smiled. "Alright. Let's go," he said.

Tyriko looked as if he was taking a very deep breath. In reality, he was building up ki in his mouth. Shorts, in response, put both of his open hands into the air above of his head, with one behind the other. The one in front of the other started to glow yellow with ki. After a few moments, they both shot their respective blasts. Tyriko opened his mouth and yelled, unleashing a large beam of yellow ki out of his mouth. Shorts put his hands in front of him and yelled, " _ **MASENKO-HA!**_ ", sending a vast yellow beam of ki of his own. Both of the beams collided, but it was clear which one was going to win the struggle. Shorts's beam greatly overpowered the other, barreling through Tyriko's beam and eventually blasting Tyriko off of the stage. Tyriko landed on the floor, badly hurt, while Shorts powered down and recuperated.

" _DUE TO TYRIKO GETTING PUSHED OUT OF BOUNDS, SHORTS IS THE WINNER!_ "

Tyriko, after taking some time to cough, opened his eyes to see Shorts's hand extending towards him. "Hah. You weren't half bad out there, kid. Your brains ain't bad either." Shorts laughed. "Thanks. It means a lot, coming from you." The two walked back into the waiting area and met everyone else. Immediately after coming back, Gonkuro rushed over to meet his purple clad partner. Gonkuro congratulated Shorts about his victory, while Ashik went over to Tyriko and comforted him. They sat down on one of the couches.

Okara was lost in his own deep thoughts. He just couldn't believe that it was possible for a mere quarter saiyan to be able to attain the legendary power that was the super saiyan transformation. He was still standing at the window, reflecting on what had happened, and Gonkuro noticed his absent-mindedness.

"Hey, Okara," Gonkuro said, loudly. "You still mesmerized about that whole super saiyan schpeel?" Okara practically jumped, but even so, he maintained his composure. "N-No. I was thinking about something else," Okara retorted back, still trying to keep his dominance. However, it was all too late; Gonkuro knew that Okara had never once transformed into the golden-haired state, and that fact made him arrogant. He smirked. "Well… just keep in mind that that transformation isn't even near the limit to Shorts's full power." Shorts elbowed him in the gut, but Okara responded with, "That does not bother me."

" _ALRIGHT! Competitors Gonkuro and Kyuuri may now enter the arena! We will begin momentarily!"_

"Hmph. Looks like it's my turn," said Gonkuro excitedly. As he said this, the short saiyan in the corner stood up and turned around. He seemed very confident, staring at Gonkuro straight in the eyes. "It's about time… time to show you irresponsible fool the terrifying might of the saiyan race's strongest warrior," Kyuuri said smugly. Gonkuro took this threat lightly, laughing loudly as he heard it. "Yeah, right. Tell me, when was the last time you went super saiyan?" Kyuuri flinched, but he withstood his ground. He said with a scowl, "Super saiyan or not, I'm still going to beat you to the inch of your life. Just you wait." Kyuuri proceeded to turn around and exit through his hallway. Gonkuro did the same but through his hallway, and mumbled to himself, "We'll see."

As they both walked out, Okara went down to sit on a chair. Izumi slowly creeped up to him and whispered, "So… you don't know how to go super saiyan, do ya?" Okara, who was currently very bitter, glared fiercely at Izumi. She didn't seem to care, saying, "Guess that's a no. Just makes it easier for me to beat ya." She then started to walk away, but then Okara remembered something. "Wait," he told Izumi. "Huh? Whattya want?"

"Do you know if… if Kyuuri is able to transform into a super saiyan as well?"

Izumi scoffed. "Did you not just hear the conversation between him and Gonkuro, or am I missing something?"

"Answer my question, girl. Based on your knowledge about my race, do you know if he can transform or not?"

"Well… no," said Izumi casually. "Last time anybody ever checked, no one in the saiyan race can transform. Thought you knew already, but I kinda keep forgettin' that you're from outer space. So yeah, no."

Okara didn't say anything for a brief period, thinking about why that would be the case. Then he said to Izumi, "Alright. Thanks." She nodded and then sat down on a chair. _This cannot be the case. She's only 16, after all. She must not know much yet. If a quarter- saiyan can transform, but the most powerful full blood on this planet cannot… It just isn't possible. This Kyuuri must be playing it smart, using Gonkuro's arrogance against him. That must be his plan,_ Okara thought to himself.

Gonkuro boldly stepped out of his hallway. " _IN THE LEFT CORNER, WE HAVE GONKURO! GONKURO, POWER-WISE, IS ONLY SECOND TO SHORTS! DUE TO HIS LACK OF POWER COMPARED TO HIS PEER, HE HAS FOCUSED A LOT OF HIS TIME ON LEARNING MANY DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES, MAKING HIM AN INCREDIBLY VERSATILE FIGHTER! HOWEVER, HE CAN BE QUITE THE HOOLIGAN WHEN IT COMES TO HIS DAILY LIFE, AS, IN SHORTS'S FATHER'S WORDS, "HE NEGLECTS EVERY AND ALL OF HIS DUTIES AS A SUPER-POWERED INDIVIDUAL!" ALTHOUGH HE MIGHT BE IRRESPONSIBLE AND A GOOFBALL AT TIMES, HE HAS A HUGE ARSENAL OF ABILITIES THAT WOULD MAKE ANYONE FEEL THE PAIN!"_

 _Goofball… so my biggest rival at the moment is being called an irresponsible idiot?_ thought Okara. _This is ridiculous._

Right after Gonkuro stepped out, Kyuuri, crossing his arms confidently, stepped out as well. _"IN THE RIGHT CORNER, HAILING FROM THE NORTH SAIYAN VILLAGE, WE HAVE KYUURI! NOT MUCH IS KNOWN ABOUT KYUURI DUE TO THE SAIYAN VILLAGE'S LACK OF COOPERATION AND OTHER UNKNOWN REASONS, BUT WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT HIM PAINTS A PICTURE OF A VERY FIERSOME FIGHTER! SUPPOSEDLY, AS A CHILD, HE WAS BEATEN AGAIN AND AGAIN BY THE SAIYAN ADULTS IN ORDER FOR THEM TO FORGE WHAT THEY CALLED THE 'HOPE OF THE SAIYAN RACE'! THIS RITUAL CONTINUED TO ADULTHOOD, AS THE SAIYANS WANTED TO WAIT FOR THE RIGHT TIME TO LET THIS BEAST LOOSE TO DEMONSTRATE HIS POWER! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THAT RIGHT TIME IS NOW! THIS FIGHT WILL BE THE FIRST SHOWCASE OF THE STRONGEST SAIYAN'S POWER! WE KNOW ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT WHAT HE HAS TO BRING TO THE TABLE, BUT WOULDN'T YOU SAY THAT MAKES HIM EVEN MORE COMPELLING AS A FIGHTER? THIS MYSTERIOUS YET OMINOUS SAIYAN IS DEFINITELY NOT SOMEONE YOU WOULD WANT TO MESS WITH!"  
_

_Yes, it's even more clear to me now. Kyuuri definitely has the power to attain super saiyan. Why else would the Northern Saiyan Village hide him from the public?_

" _BUT THERE IS A FEW MORE THINGS I'D LIKE TO SAY! TO ADD I\ONTO GONKURO'S BACKGROUND, HIS FATHER, GOTEN, WAS TRAGICALLY MURDERED DURING THE FIRST SAIYAN INVASION BY THE INVASION'S LEADER! EVER SINCE THEN, GONKURO HAS REGARDED THE SAIYAN RACE WITH HATRED AND ANGER! WITH HIS OPPONENT BEING THE SUPPOSEDLY STRONGEST SAIYAN ALIVE, I THINK THIS FIGHT IS GOING TO BE A GOOD ONE!"_

" _SECONDLY, IN ORDER TO PREVENT ANY AUDIENCE INJURIES, THE BRILLIANT MINDS AT CAPSULE CORP. HAVE DEVISED A STATIONARY FORCEFIELD, MAKING SURE THAT EVERYONE IN THE AUDIENCE IS SAFE! THIS FORCEFIELD IS DESIGNED TO WITHSTAND THE TOUGHEST ATTACKS THESE FIGHTERS HAVE TO OFFER, SO DON'T WORRY FOLKS! WE DECIDED TO BRING THIS OUT DURING THIS PARTICULAR ROUND BECAUSE, UNLIKE THE COMPETITORS BEFORE, WE DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT THIS SAIYAN, AND WE WOULDN'T WANT TO TAKE THE CHANCE OF HIM ATTACKING THE AUDIENCE ON PURPOSE, NOW WOULD WE?"_

Simultaneously as the announcer exclaimed the purpose of the defense mechanism, the forcefield encircled and encased the entire arena in a massive dome. Everyone seemed impressed by its grand stature.

The two fighters, the earthling and the saiyan, both met each other in the middle of the arena. However, neither of them bowed. "Hm. Not as polite as your friend over there?" asked Kyuuri. Gonkuro spit on the ground next to the saiyan warrior. "No. I just don't have any respect for you or your race, is all." Kyuuri looked a little surprised at how hateful Gonkuro was capable of being, but he laughed it off. "Suit yourself."

"Actually," said Gonkuro, "I don't think I'll even need to use super saiyan for this fight."

Kyuuri was shocked again, but he didn't take it too lightly this time. "Oh yeah? That strategy didn't go too well for your friend the last round he tried it. Trying it now with me of all people would be a fatal mistake. One only a dumbass like you could make," stated Kyuuri with contempt.

Gonkuro smirked with defiance. "Alright then. How 'bout I make a bet? During the fight, I won't be able to use my super saiyan state at any time. If I do, then I'll forfeit the match. Deal?" Gonkuro asked, extending out his hand.

Kyuuri thought about it, looking at Gonkuro's hand. Then, he finally responded. He shook Gonkuro's hand with a devilish smile and said, "Deal. It doesn't make much of a difference for me; I would destroy you even if you did use super saiyan. The only difference is that now, I'll get to destroy you even harder."

" _NOW…_ "

"LET THE 2ND ROUND OF THE TOURNAMENT… _**BEGIN!**_ "

Kyuuri immediately rushed towards at Gonkuro. He attacked with haymakers, punching Gonkuro in a repeated pattern of left, right, left right. Gonkuro blocked all of them, and was getting pushed back a little.

"HA! YOU FOOL! As you can now see, you've made a grave error," Kyuuri said with a smirk. "My constant stream of powerful attacks leave you with the single option of defending yourself! I've got you on the ropes!"

Gonkuro smirked back at him. "Not really. I was just testing if you were the weakling I thought you were. Turns out, I was right!" The messy haired quarter saiyan then proceeded to catch both of Kyuuri's hands with general ease. This made Kyuuri quite surprised, but he snapped out of it. The saiyan pulled Gonkuro towards him while Gonkuro was still holding on and attempted to headbutt him, but instead, he was met with Gonkuro's leg extending into his own stomach. Gonkuro then released Kyuuri's hands and lept backwards.

"Your problem is simple. You're too weak. The saiyans at your village never really trained you did they? They just beat you, I assume?"

"Shut up… you don't know a THING!" Kyuuri said, firing a barrage of ki blasts at Gonkuro. This barrage left half of the entire arena in smoke. "Hah. Hahahah! HAHAHAH! You simple minded fool! You were wide open, and you chose to let your guard down at that moment?! You really are a dumba-"

Before Kyuuri could finish his sentence, Gonkuro had appeared behind him, with two fingers placed on his forehead. "Instant Transmission. Checkmate." Gonkuro then proceeded to punch the proud saiyan in his face, and then used his knowledge in martial arts to pummel him. Over and over he hit him: one to the face, one to the stomach, one to his side; they all were precise shots and they all did major damage. Kyuuri tried his best to block and dodge, but they all just came too fast. "You know, this is kind of disappointing," said Gonkuro casually as he was beating Kyuuri. "If the people who had raised you weren't such pieces of shit, then you might have actually accounted for something. For someone who hasn't trained a day in his life, you aren't half bad."

As Okara was watching the fight, all he could do was deny what he saw. _He has to be holding back, waiting for an opportunity to use a super powerful technique. That has to be it._

Okara was partially correct.

As Kyuuri got hit, over and over, he seemed to be brooding, keeping his head down and breathing very loudly. Gonkuro took note of his strange behavior. "Hey, what's going on? Are you finally getting it? That your whole race is built upon and made up of scumbags? That all of your stupid arrogance isn't going to get you anywhere?"

"No… NO! YOU'RE WRONG!"

Kyuuri finally retaliated, getting a direct hit on Gonkuro. He had punched him with a haymaker directly in his stomach, sending him flying back. Gonkuro grimaced, however, he still had a smile on his face. "…Oh? What's this?"

"You're wrong… The saiyans are the strongest, you hear me?! WE'RE THE STRONGEST IN THE UNIVERSE!"

Kyuuri's power level skyrocketed upwards, forming huge cracks in the arena.

"AND A WEAKLING LIKE YOU… YOU'RE NOTHING COMPARED TO US!"

Kyuuri's eyes, for a split second, went blank. His eyes returned to normal, however, things were different. His aura was much more exuberant than before, and not only that, but his power level increased twofold.

 _This must be it!_ Okara thought.

"… I'm going to crush you LIKE A BUG!"

Gonkuro now seemed more serious. "Well then. Take your shot."

"RRRRAAAAHHHHHH!" Kyuuri charged at Gonkuro, much faster than before. He charged up a massive punch and threw it, however, it looked as if the punch had actually gone through Gonkuro. A few seconds later, the mirage of what seemed to be Gonkuro faded instantly. behind Kyuuri, a massive blow was delivered to his back. Kyuuri yelled, but he didn't fall. He turned around as if nothing had happened, screamed again, and threw another powerful haymaker. And again, it didn't land.

This trend continued. Over and over, Kyuuri would punch an fake and receive a counter attack. These fake Gonkuros eventually surrounded the angered saiyan. "What the hell is this trickery?!" he yelled in frustration.

"It's called the After-Image technique. A simple technique, really. Not much to it. If you had actually trained, you would have figured this old trick pretty handily," said Gonkuro in response.

Kyuuri received one hit after another, however, he still kept attacking at the same pace he had always attacked at. "You know, you actually do have really impressive stamina. Shame it had to go to waste."

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH, YOU WORTHLESS BASTARD!"

And again, Kyuuri powered up. His power increased even further, making it even more than two times his original level. Again, the saiyan tried punching Gonkuro, however this time, it started to work. He was getting too fast for the quarter saiyan to handle, and Gonkuro was actually getting surprised.

"Wow… I don't think I know anyone who's able to increase their power level after they've received a beating…" said Gonkuro, impressed with his opponent's rising power mas he was getting pushed back. "Luckily… I have an idea in mind."

Instantaneously, he disappeared, and then reappeared in a different position. Kyuuri, with his newfound speed, reacted quick enough to hit him, but again, it was only an after-image. He then felt a familiar pain of a fist going into his abdomen. Kyuuri punched again at the warrior who had his hand inside him, but it was another after image. The saiyan was confident in predicting that Gonkuro would counter-attack from behind, and he was correct. However, just before Kyuuri tried to attack Gonkuro behind him, Gonkuro disappeared yet again and reappeared in front of him, kneeing him in the chin.

Okara was now incredibly frustrated. Kyuuri, the strongest saiyan in existence, had powered up twice, yet he was still being beaten. "How… how in the hell…" 

"A combination of instant transmission and the after-image technique," stated Tyriko, who was watching from the couch. "He's using a combination of both the after-image technique and his instant transmission technique to evade Kyuuri's overwhelming speed. When the announcer says that that kid is versatile, he means it."

 _This can't be real_ , thought Okara. _This cannot be happening!_

Gonkuro's attacks repeatedly hit Kyuuri, over and over and over again, until, it looked like Kyuuri was finally getting worn out. He had lost his steam. After more than a dozen minutes of Gonkuro punching Kyuuri again and again, Kyuuri, who was bleeding from almost every part of his body, was losing some of his power. His two boosts that he got earlier had faded, and he was back to his original level. Gonkuro, who saw that his opponent was getting weak, decided to end it. With an instant transmission in front of the saiyan, he put both of his hands into the air, creating a ball of yellow ki.

" _ **MASENKO-HA!**_ "

A large yellow beam approached Kyuuri at an astounding speed. However, Kyuuri simply stared at the beam, his mind calm. "I'm… I'm not going to give up…" Kyuuri put both of his hands in front of him, ready to catch and intercept the beam of ki. The saiyan warrior didn't even have enough of his own ki to fire back, yet he still stood there, ready to face the worst.

"YOU HEAR ME?! I'M NOT LOSING!"

The beam hit his hands. His arms stung with a great pain, and his fingers had snapped. It was practically impossible for him to stop the beam from hitting him, yet he persisted. He was determined; every fiber in his body wasn't allowing him to lose, and he knew it. Suddenly, like before, his eyes turned white as his pupils faded. And that surge of power came flowing back, for one more split second.

" _ **DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME!**_ "

With that second of power, he held it for a brief moment. However, it was incredibly brief. Immediately after, his eyes went back to normal, and his hands fell as he went unconscious. And just like that, he was engulfed in the yellow beam. Kyuuri was sent flying into the forcefield, crashing into it and falling onto the grass. The fight had completely broken his saiyan armor.

Gonkuro powered down. "Whew. That was kinda close for a second there," he stated. "Too bad. As he got more powerful, it was like he had lost control of his mind. He was throwing simple haymakers that were so easy to dodge. If he didn't go berserk while he was all powered up, I don't think I would've won without transforming into anything." As he was mumbling this to himself, a group of medical professionals carried the unconscious, half-dead saiyan out on a stretcher.

"DUE TO KYUURI GETTING PUSHED OUT OF BOUNDS, AND BEING UNCONSCIOUS, GONKURO IS THE WINNER!"

Okara kneeled over. He was in complete disbelief, confusion, and anger. He felt like he was about to vomit, and he couldn't hold his emotions in any longer. He yelled, a loud and desperate yell of frustration. Everybody in the room looked at him.

"Hey, dude…. You alright?" asked Izumi, genuinely worried.

"Okara, are you hurt? Do you need Tyriko to heal you?" asked Shorts.

Both Tyriko and Ashik knew, however, that something was amiss, simply by reading Okara's expression.

"Stand back, everybody," said Ashik. "He is not hurt. He is… angry."

"Damn. We might actually have to fight the bastard now," said Tyriko.

Even Gonkuro, who was initially celebrating his victory, noticed something was off, and so he looked into the window of the waiting area to see what was wrong.

And they were all right. Something was off. Okara, throughout his entire life, had been led to believe that his original race was a proud race of great warriors. He was told by his ship that they had a reputation throughout the entire universe as being the strongest race of any species. Even the Boreans who had raised him remarked about their incredibly vast potentials, and his incredibly vast potential.

But now, now he had known their weakness. The saiyans' supposedly strongest warrior had just lost to someone who wasn't even using their full power. He had thought that they were the strongest his entire life, but on this very day, that had all come crashing down.

And then, there was Shiza's last wishes.

 _Find them… Lead them… Guide them…_

Okara came to Earth initially thinking that all he had to do was to bring his race together, and make them strong again. He had come with the notion that his race was already great, but just separated. But now, he had felt as if that was all false; that they were all weaklings. Everything that he had done and had planned to do seemed meaningless to him now. How was he going to make a race of weaklings strong? He felt as if his entire purpose, as if his entire existence had all lead to nothing. The destruction of his planet, the death of his only family; all for nothing.

Okara cried. He whimpered, he sobbed, and he let it all go. He didn't see the point of exerting his dominance anymore due to his overwhelming weakness, and so he just let his emotions flow through him naturally. He pounded the ground in anger, he cried tears due to his sadness, and he screamed due to his frustration. Okara didn't hold anything back anymore.

And then that was when he felt it. The anger.

Overwhelming anger and adrenaline flooded through his body. All of a sudden, he felt unnaturally excited, as if he were about to explode. Every single vein in his body, every single heartbeat carried blood that felt like it contained something incredible inside of it. He changed. His crying stopped, and he started to just yell. He stopped kneeling, and he stood up. His tears stopped flowing, and it transformed into smoke. And his body emitted a bright powerful aura.

It was yellow.

His hair stood up, his eyes went blank white. Thunder and lightning struck everywhere around the arena. It was finally time.

Okara stood there, gritting his teeth. He was filled with a rage of a hundred demons and the power of a million warriors. He had finally become a legend.

A super saiyan.

o – o – o – o – o

 _Okara, after escaping Planet Vegeta's destruction, after spending decades training on Borea, and after finally arriving onto Earth, has finally attained the power of a super saiyan!_

 _How will the others react to his new form? How will he react, seeing the others so defensive? Will his time at the Tournament of Champions be cut short?_

 _If it is cut short, how will Okara find a way to reunite with his lost race? If it isn't, how will he fare against Izumi in the next round with his new big powerup?_

 _And finally, who in the world is going to win the Tournament of Champions?_

 _Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter of Dragon Ball Newcomers!_


	8. 4: Don't You Dare Underestimate ME!

"AH, SHIT!" shouted Izumi, more frustrated than scared. "It was gonna be so easy! Just beat the guy who didn't even know how to get to super saiyan, but now this _bullshit_?! Give me a fucki-" 

"Everyone, please stand back! If Okara attempts to take any unwarranted action, I will protect you all from harm!" exclaimed Ashik, moving in front of everybody with his arms spread out, attempting to form a shield.

"We better make a move now, kid; he seems pretty pissed," said Tyriko.

"No. He isn't going to hurt us," said Shorts calmly, walking past Ashik's arms. "Hey, Okara. Snap out of it and calm down." Okara didn't even seem to notice what Shorts' was saying; he was still yelling, being consumed with anger. However, Shorts persisted. "I know how you feel about Kyuuri's loss. I get it. But you have to realize that if you keep on breaking everything, if you keep on making everyone afraid of you, you'll never get to meet your race."

That's where Okara's conscious came back to him. For a split second, he was thrown back into reality, and he had seen what he had done. The entire room was broken: couches were flipped over, tables destroyed, walls cracked; all of this because of his powerup. And so, his anger faded, yet his glowing power stayed. His ki went down, and he started to feel himself out in his new form. He looked at both of his hands, and he clenched his fists. The power coming from him was incredible. His thoughts, however, was interrupted when Gonkuro barged through the door.

"What in the hell's going on?! I literally just finished my fight when then the whole arena started to shake everywhere, and…" Gonkuro almost immediately realized what had happened. He started at the blonde haired Okara with contempt, and annoyance. Once Okara realized who came through the door, the yellow in his hair vanished, as his thoughts changed focus from maintaining his new form to the presence of his rival. They both glared at each other.

"So… you finally cracked the code to unlocking that state, huh?"

Okara, retaining his previous state of mind, shrugged. "It was no big deal. I'd done it plenty of times before," he said, lying.

"Uh-huh. Alright, buddy. I just thought that you were a first timer, since your transformation this time was so uncontrolled and untamed. Guess it was all in my imagination, huh?"

"Yeah. You would be correct." They both stood next to each other, glaring at one another.

"Ugh. You know, I've only seen this show you guys are putting on once before, and I've already gotten tired of it. Could you guys just like, I dunno, stop being such pathetic losers?" asked Izumi. Surprisingly, both of them listened, and turned away from each other in embarrassment. Gonkuro, however, took one glance back. "Just so you know, this new little form of yours isn't anything new to me. I could still beat you in a heartbeat."

"Mhm. Keep telling yourself that, dude."

Gonkuro, a little bit surprised at Okara's weird word choice, took a double take at him. Okara didn't realize what he even said. "Wait, I mean-"

"Heyyyy! Gonkuro! Let's go have a nice chat!" interrupted Shorts forcefully. Gonkuro's head perked up, confused. "Uh, what abou-" he tried to say before he got dragged through the exit, into another room. A few seconds later, Shorts shouting at and berating Gonkuro loudly could be heard throughout the room. Everyone could hear every word Shorts said, and it intimidated them quite a bit; even Okara was caught off guard. Some time later, after the yelling stopped, Gonkuro was seen opening the door, sulking as he sat on a couch with less spirit than before.

A few minutes after that had transpired, the announcer's voice was heard.

" _Alright… I've just gotten word from Shorts himself that the shaking we felt earlier was due to an accident with one of the fighters in the waiting room… So… I GUESS THAT MEANS EVERYTHING'S OKAY! ALRIGHT! Competitors Izumi and Okara may now enter the arena! We will begin the next round momentarily!_ "

Okara felt more prepared than ever before. His attainment of super saiyan only boosted his confidence, and so he began walking in his respective hallway. Izumi, still bitter that Okara had happened to attain super saiyan right before their fight, stomped over into her hallway muttering about how it wasn't fair.

After a brief moment, Okara stepped out of his hallway. " _IN THE LEFT CORNER, WE HAVE THE NEW AND PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN, OKARA! HE'S JUST RECENTLY LANDED ON EARTH IN HIS POD, AND IN THE PAST FEW WEEKS, THIS PURE BLOODED SAIYAN HAS BECOME INFAMOUS AND KNOWN THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE WORLD! JUST HIS PRESENCE MAKES EVEN THE STRONGEST WARRIORS WE HAVE HERE INTIMIDATED, AS WE LITERALLY HAVE NO INFORMATION ON HIM AT ALL! ALL WE KNOW IS THAT HE'S SUPER STRONG, DUE TO HIM GETTING A PLACE IN THE TOURNAMENT IN THE FIRST PLACE! AND HE COULD HAVE BEEN HOLDING BACK TOO! HE'S UNDOUBTEDLY GOING TO BRING NEW ABILITIES, TACTICS, AND POWERS TO THE TOURNAMENT, SO BE AWARE AND AFRAID OF THIS LOOMING PRESENCE, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!"_

 _Be "aware and afraid?" That's not good,_ Okara thought. _Who knows? Next, the earthlings might make me out to be a winged demon!_

Izumi then walked out of her hallway. " _IN THE RIGHT CORNER, WE HAVE THE YOUNG AND UPCOMING MARTIAL ARTIST, IZUMI! BEING TRAINED IN THE CRANE SCHOOL, SHE'S VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE IN DIFFERENT FIGHTING STYLES AND TECHNIQUES! IN FACT, SHE'S ACTUALLY THE ONLY PERSON IN THE ENTIRE WORLD THAT HAS BEEN PERSONALLY TRAINED SINCE AGE NINE BY THE LEGENDARY CRANE HERMIT, TIEN SHINHAN HIMSELF! UNDER HIS STRICT TUTILAGE, SHE'S GAINED ENORMOUS AMOUNTS OF STRENGTH AND TECHNIQUE! NOW, RECENTLY TURNING SIXTEEN, SHE'S FINALLY GOT THE CHANCE TO DISPLAY HER VAST KNOWLEDGE OF FIGHTING STYLES! SHE MIGHT NOT LOOK LIKE MUCH, BUT SHE SURE DOES PACK A WALLOP!"_

Izumi and Okara stepped up to meet each other in the arena. "Hey, dude. I'm pretty sure you're gonna hold back, based on how you just got super saiyan earlier and the boost in your ego as a result. Just… do me a favor. Don't hold back. 'Cause if I beat you _because_ you're holding back… I won't be happy with myself. My master won't be happy with me. So… just-"

"I don't intend to hold back," Okara stated. "I intend to win."

Izumi's face beamed with happiness. "Alright! Thanks a bunch, my guy!"

Okara grunted in response. Even though he stated that he was going to go all out, he felt differently. His original goal was to hold back, as she stated, but it wasn't because he was confident. It was because he didn't want to hurt her. Yet, it was different for everybody else. He didn't care if anyone else he was facing would get hurt; he was going to go all out no matter what would happen. But Izumi was different… and he had no idea why that was. He obviously didn't find her attractive, as she was an entire six years younger than him; the thought of that completely disgusted him. Even if he did find her attractive, he wouldn't have cared enough to hold back. No… it was something entirely different. And he wasn't lying to himself this time.

" _NOW…_ "

" _LET ROUND THREE…_ _ **BEGIN**_ _!_ "

Izumi put up a standard martial arts fighting pose, while Okara reenacted the pose that he used when he first met Gonkuro: His arms were tucked to his sides and he was partially crouching, as if he was powering up, yet nothing came of it. The two competitors stood there for a few seconds.

"You 'gonna make your move?"

"No. The honor of attacking first is all yours."

"If you insist! HRAAAH!" exclaimed Izumi as she ran at Okara. The saiyan, however, stood his ground, not even flinching. Izumi, coming close to Okara with a charged fist, unleashed it right into his midsection. A loud impact sound was heard; yet, once Izumi looked up at her opponent's face, his expression didn't change much at all.

"WHAT?! But…"

"I didn't feel anything. Try hitting harder next time," taunted Okara.

Izumi pouted. "Why you- fine then… TAKE THIS!" She then came at Okara with a barrage of punches and kicks. Okara grunted with each attack with his face looking a little bit hurt, but his body didn't move an inch. He stayed positioned where he was throughout the entire series of attacks, using the same pose.

"WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK, DUDE?!"

Back in the waiting area, everyone seemed shocked. "That's unreal!" shouted Gonkuro. "Izumi might not be as strong as us, but to take punches from her and still be standing completely still is crazy… Not only that but, his power level…"

"His power is actually rising!" Shorts chimed in. "With every punch he's taking, his ki levels are gradually increasing! Not by much, but still…!"

Even Ashik seemed confused. The young namekian looked at his mentor for guidance. However, in contrast to everyone else, Tyriko seemed to be confident in whatever he was thinking, and Ashik noticed this. "Tyriko. I assume you've figured him out?"

"Yeah," said Tyriko in response. "Okara is absorbing the kinetic energy from Izumi's punches."

"WHAT?!"

"Huh?!"

"How in Namek is that even possible?"

"I don't know," Tyriko respnded to the three confused warriors. "But I'm sure as hell that that's what he's doing. Just think about it. Every time Izumi's fist makes contact with him, he gains power. Not only that, but if you pay even more attention to his ki levels, the harder she hits, the stronger he gets. And we know that he's not absorbing her ki directly because her ki is staying the same, and not decreasing at all. And finally, to top it all off, his face shows that he hurting and taking damage; it's not like he's just that much stronger than her. It's the energy that comes from the force of her punches that he's absorbing, I'm sure of it."

"Then how do explain him standing completely still while taking all these attacks?" asked Shorts.

"I'm not as sure about this theory, but I think he's learned a type of fighting stance that allows him to do exactly so. If you look at it without context, it looks stupid as hell. He's completely wide open; his arms are tucked in, leaving him only a small amount of time to react to attacks. But that's because he _doesn't_ want to react to his opponents' attacks. It's my assumption that Okara's absorbing technique and fighting pose works in tandem with each other. His pose allows him to be completely immobile, letting him take the complete force of Izumi's punches head on, and then he uses his absorbing technique to absorb that exact complete force. Where he got wind of those techniques, I have no idea. But they are pretty fuckin' impressive techniques," answered Tyriko.

"No way…" said Gonkuro, as he turned his face towards his rival. After Gonkuro, both Shorts and Ashik looked on, as they all watched the fight in awe.

"HATATATAH! HRAH!" exclaimed Izumi, delivering attack after attack. Eventually, she became tired, and flew some distance away before catching her breath.

" _Huff_ … Why… _Huff_ … In the hell… _Huff_ … ARE YOU NOT MOVING?!"

"Do you really want me to explain? I'm just absorbing the force you exert from your punches, is all," said Okara, smugly.

"YOU- wait… you what?"

"You heard me," said Okara, a little annoyed. "I have a technique that allows me to negate the force of your punches. I won't repeat it a third time."

"…Seriously? Well then, that makes it much easier for me!" exclaimed Izumi, laughing.

"What in the world are you talking about?"

"Get a load of this!" Izumi, after taking some time to stretch, changed her fighting stance dramatically. Her hands looked as if they were talons, bending her fingers in a certain way. Her body shifted, turning her body sideways to Okara's line of sight. One of Izumi's arms and one of her legs extended out in front, while the other pair were in the back, but her arm was curved, and also extending frontwards. She looked as if she were a bird of some sort.

"What, is acting like a chicken your big trump card?

"Nope, actually! Not a chicken, but a _crane_!"

"Are… are you actually being serious?"

"Yup!"

"Ha… HAHAHAH! If you really think that'll fool me, you're sorely mis-"

Izumi charged at Okara, cutting him off. Again, Izumi sent a barrage of attacks his way, except these weren't punches or kicks- instead, her fingers pointed outwards with all of them connecting to each other. These attacks were much different. They were quicker, sharper, and Okara felt them much more. Each attack was precise, hitting Okara's pressure points. But worst of all, Okara wasn't getting much if any kinetic force from these attacks. This barrage made Okara cough out a little bit of blood, and after a few barrages, he jumped away to put some distance between them. The saiyan wiped his mouth. This was the first time he had actually sustained substantial damage. _Damn! Why did I tell her? Why did I let my guard down?_ He thought to himself.

Izumi chuckled. "What's wrong? What happened to all that confidence, huh?"

Okara frowned. "You can't just assume you're in the lead. I haven't even thrown a punch yet."

"Oh yeah? Well then, come and have a go at me."

Okara yelled at he charged, flying rapidly at Izumi. However, she seemed preemptively ready for his attack. She dodged it as skillfully as she could, and effectively counterattacked, sending a couple of pressure point attacks his way. But Okara also saw this coming. He took Izumi's attacks, and traded hers with one of his punches, hitting her in the face. This sent the teenager some feet back.

"WOAH! You sure do pack a wallop!" Izumi pointed out.

"No shit!" yelled Okara as he charged at Izumi once more. Izumi grinned, and so they both sent attacks at each other. Izumi landed more attacks hitting Okara's pressure points, however, Okara's punches were just more powerful. They traded hits, blow after blow, until they both flew back to get some space from each other.

They both were panting, but Izumi seemed a little bit concerned. Okara saw this, and asked, "What's wrong? I can tell you're upset about something. Have you finally realized the inevitability of your defeat?"

"Nope… it's just that you're not coming through with your promise. You're still holding back, aren't you?"

"I-"

Okara had actually caught himself off guard. He was enjoying the fight more than he should have been, and he had just figured out why. Without even intending to, he was lowering his power level. He wasn't using even half of his power, with his punches only being around 30% of his full potential. Yet, this whole time he had thought he was going all out. It was as if his subconscious was holding him back; but what was the reason for it? He had felt this way when he made the promise, but he still didn't know why. Okara was completely confused, while also off guard.

Izumi's face drooped. "Ugh… So you are holding back. Fine then. All I need to do is just prove to you why ya shouldn't underestimate me!"

The teenage martial artist took advantage of Okara's absentmindedness. She shot out her hand and pointed one finger at Okara. A bright yellow flicker of ki started to form around her fingertips, which then grew into a sphere that covered her entire hand. Within a millisecond after she pointed at Okara, she shot a thin yellow beam at him, yelling, " _ **DODON RAY!**_ "

This beam flew towards Okara, but before it could hit him, he snapped out of his inner thoughts. "SHIT!" Quickly, he lifted up his arm, and a large wooden spike came out of the arena, blocking the attack. However, it resulted in a huge explosion due to the beam hitting the wood, which threw Okara back a little.

"WHA?! Wait, so you can control plants now?!"

"There are a lot of things you don't know about me."

"Hm. That's fair. But that goes for me, too!

Izumi started to yell, and at the same time, her power level started to rise. She then stretched out both of her arms left and right, to her sides. Okara got into an actual basic fighting stance, prepared to block whatever attack she was going to throw at him. However, this wasn't just another attack. It was a technique.

All of a sudden, what looked like two lumps started to grow from her back. Okara was tremendously surprised by this, but he kept his guard up. These lumps grew in height, more and more, until they transformed into something recognizable. They were two hands, and so now, Izumi had four.

"Hell yeah! Ol' reliable! Four Witches, baby, here we come!"

With two new arms to work with, Izumi began to charge four Dodon Rays, with one in each arm. _You've got to be kidding me,_ Okara thought. And so, in seconds, her four arms began rapid firing Dodon Rays at Okara. The saiyan counteracted these numerous beams of ki by forming wooden pillars out of the ground and making shields out of them, but the sheer amount of explosions began pushing Okara back, closer and closer to getting out of bounds. Okara noticed this, but Izumi just kept on firing her beams.

"HEY DUDE!" She yelled as she kept up her barrage. "YA BETTER STOP HOLDIN' BACK NOW, OR ELSE YOU'RE GONNA GET ELIMINATED!"

 _Yeah, what the fuck?! She's completely right! Why am I still holding back?!_ Okara was in a dilemma. He either had to use more than 30% of his power, or else he was going to get eliminated. He knew that. But his subconscious completely restricted him from using more power, and he had no idea why. He wasn't going to be able to use more power if he didn't find out why that was the case in time.

Izumi, on the other hand, was getting very impatient. "REALLY?! YOU'RE STILL UNDERESTIMATING ME, EVEN THOUGH YOU'RE LOSING?!" She yelled in frustration. "YOU'RE SUCH A THUNDERING DUMBASS!"

…

" _Do not… be… a dumbass…_ "

And that was when it clicked.

Okara powered up, breaking free of his restraints. The wooden pillars fell back down, and he was faced with dozens of beams coming straight at him. However, unlike before, he blocked every single one of them without taking any damage. Okara wasn't going to play around anymore. He was going to meet his race, no matter what.

"Woah!" Izumi said cheerfully. "So you've finally shown you're true colors, huh? Alright then, let's do this for real!"

"If you insist."

Okara moved insanely quickly next to Izumi. She didn't even realize he moved; it looked as if he were teleporting in front of her. Immediately, he plunged his fist into her stomach, causing her to spit out saliva. He wasn't going to risk the chance of failing his mission given to him by his own people anymore; he was going to win, no matter the price.

He threw a barrage of quick and powerful punches, and he finished with one big haymaker that landed on her face, causing her to fly out of bounds. Before she hit the ground, however, she caught herself. Badly injured and breathing heavily, she flew slowly upwards back into the arena.

"Damn… Damn it…"

"Give up, now. You have no chance of winning. Your full power is nothing compared to my full power in my base form. You have nothing left, so please, just quit. I don't want to hurt you anymore than I have to."

"Hah… Yeah, it does look pretty bad for me right now, huh? It's a really good thing, then, that I have one last trick up my nonexistent sleeve."

She started flying upwards towards the sky, very slowly. It was hard for her to even float; every few seconds, she would fall back to the ground, but she would catch herself before hitting it and keep on flying upwards.

"Izumi," said Okara sternly. "Think about this logically. Even if you had one last technique up your sleeve, you wouldn't have the ki necessary to perform it. Just forfeit, for your sake."

"Hah. That's where you're wrong," Izumi said softly. "See, you're thinking about how much _battle ki_ I have left. You're lookin' at the wrong type of ki that I have, dude."

Okara was confused by this, but it seemed like some others in the audience weren't. From a section of the spectator's seats, Okara could hear a bunch of people yelling for someone to stop the fight. He looked towards their direction, and the people yelling looked like Izumi. They were all male, but they were also all bald and had a dark green gi, like her. They were all yelling at her, however, to stop. This greatly concerned Okara. _Let me think about this. She said that I'm looking at the wrong type of ki when I'm talking about her current state… so what other type is there…? It's only battle ki, and…_

 _She's going to use her life essence?!_

He looked up. Okara saw Izumi, floating in midair. She fixed her posture so that she stood up straight, and then, with a swift motion of her arms, she formed all four of her hands into two triangles. Her original hands formed one, and her hands from the arms on her back formed another one. These two triangles sparked with an incredibly powerful yellow ki, and they were both aimed at Okara.

"Wait, Izumi! What do you think you're doing?! If you use your life ki at your current state-"

"I'LL BE FINE! DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME! THE PERSON WHO YOU SHOULD BE WORRYING ABOUT…"

" **IS YOURSELF!** "

The ki that emanated from her hands grew in power. Okara could feel it, even from a mile away; It was so concentrated, and intense. The ki then shone an incredibly bright light, one that covered the entire arena and the audience around it. It was hard to even see anything in the arena.

Okara looked at both of his hands. And then he looked at Izumi. He made his decision. Making sure he did it quick, he charged up a ball in between his two hands, and made it grow bigger and bigger.

"I won't let you keep building up your life essence like this just to release it all on me! I'm going to end it before you even get a chance to unleash your attack!"

Izumi chuckled lightly. "Yeah, I thought you would do that. All you're gonna do is delay my attack, sorry to say." The teen let go of the second triangle, releasing the attack and absorbing her life essence back into her body. However, with her now extra free two arms, she opened both of her palms and put her hands next to her eyes.

" _ **SOLAR FLARE!**_ "

Izumi unleashed a huge, blinding light onto Okara. Caught off guard, he was blinded momentarily, and he let go of his blast. This gave Izumi enough time to finish charging her first blast and begin charging her second blast once more.

Once Okara had been unblinded, it was too late. Izumi was already nearly done charging both attacks, and so, all that was left for him to do was respond to her attacks. He sighed. And then he powered up to super saiyan.

Again, Okara used both of his hands to charge up a yellow orb of ki, making it bigger and bigger in between his two palms.

"You wanted this," he muttered. 

"HELL YEAH I DID! THIS IS IT… THIS IS MY EVERYTHING!" Izumi shouted.

And, just like that, in an instant both of Izumi's and Okara's attacks had been unleashed, with both of their users shouting the respective names of their attacks.

" _ **BOREAN BLAST!**_ "

" _ **TRI-BEAM… TIMES TWO!**_ "

The two opposing yellow blasts of ki clashed, as they pushed each other back and forth. These beams were actually quite even, which surprised Okara a great deal. _What?! I'm a super saiyan, and you're telling me her attack is still matching my own?! And not only that, but… she's winning!_

They both yelled and screamed, coming at each other with their absolute full power. However, one side seemed to have an advantage. Izumi, pushing down her two beams with her four arms, unleashed one final burst of energy.

" _ **GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!**_ "

The two intertwining tri-beams pushed Okara's blast back at him. He shouted in defiance, but it was too late. The arena filled with light, and then resulted in an explosion that shattered the barrier into pieces. Smoke filled the area, leaving everyone watching in suspense.

Then the smoke cleared. Izumi, who had been floating mid-air, was now kneeling on the ground, covered in sweat and panting at a rapid pace. She was nearly unconscious. However, in front of her existed an incredibly large square crater that went downwards indefinitely. It was unbelievable. There was no sign of Okara, and so Izumi patiently waited, keeping herself just barely conscious. But, she knew what was going to happen.

Slowly but surely, Okara was seen gradually floating upwards out of the huge crater. He was panting as well and his saiyan armor was even more cracked than it was when he had first arrived on Earth, but in a turn of events, he looked less injured than Izumi. He then landed on the arena, with his legs wobbling, but still standing.

"Izumi."

The teenager was coughing frantically and was fading into unconsciousness, but she responded still. "…Y-Yeah?"

"You did amazing in this fight. There is no doubt in my mind that your master would be proud of you."

Izumi paused for a second. "Do… you mean that?"

Okara nodded humbly.

"Haha… awesome…" Izumi said. Before passing out, she had one last thing to say. "…You know… you should meet my master sometime. I think you two would get along well."

"You think so?" asked Okara.

"Yup…"

Izumi fell to the ground, completely limp and unconscious.

" _DUE TO IZUMI NOT BEING ABLE TO FIGHT ANYMORE, OKARA IS THE WINNER!_ "

Instantaneously after the announcer declared Okara's victory, the bald-headed warriors that told her not to use her attack jumped onto the stage. They checked her pulse, and then pulled out a small, brown bag. One of them took out what looked like a green bean, and put it in her mouth. They then started to pick her up, until Okara interrupted their action.

"Hey… do you guys know if she's going to be alright?"

They all looked at each other, not knowing how to respond. One of them, however, eventually nodded nervously. Once seeing this affirmation, Okara chuckled and smirked. "Good."

Okara walked back into the waiting room, and was met with the eyes of his rival, Gonkuro.

"You gave away a lot of your tricks in that fight, saiyan. A lot of them could have helped you surprise me in our fight, but that's life, ain't it?"

"You don't even know the half of it," Okara muttered as he walked past Gonkuro, looking to take a seat. "I have many more that'll end your foolish talk. Just you wait and see."

Gonkuro, getting a little bit agitated by his remark, responded, "Yeah? What else do you got, huh? Even with your techniques, you still had a hard time beating a sixteen-year old girl!"

Okara simply sat down, crossed his arms, and took one glare at his messy haired rival. "Izumi is much stronger than she seems."

"Hmph. Have it your way, then." Gonkuro proceeded to sit down next to Shorts. Then suddenly, the announcer's voice was heard throughout the tournament area.

" _ALRIGHT! Because this tournament is taking longer than we expected due to Gonkuro and Kyuuri's fight, and thanks to the incredible super advanced self-rebuilding force field given to us by Capsule Corp., we can begin the next round immediately! Competitors Ashik and Ayumu may now enter the arena!_ "

Okara was a little bit surprised when he heard this, as he forgot that Ayumu even existed. Okara looked around the room to see the blonde haired kid with glasses was currently standing on the side, nervously shaking and looking very anxious for his fight. _So Ayumu is currently profusely sweating and biting his nails; he's a complete wimp… so why? How?_ Okara thought.

 _How could he have possibly bested two other saiyans in punching power?_

Ashik stood up, and looked at his opponent. He saw the scared, blonde, shivering teenager that was Ayumu and he took pity upon him. Tyriko, looking over both of them, noticed his pupil looking to hold back immensely on his competitor. Tyriko put his hand on Ashik.

Ashik looked up at his big framed mentor. "Yes, Tyriko? What is it?"

"I just want to tell you something before you get on that arena. Do not hold back as much as you plan to. Just know that this guy who you're fighting; he's here for a reason."

Ashik started to think. After a brief moment, the namekian boy made up his mind. "…Okay. Whatever you say, sir."

"Good. Now get up there." Tyriko patted his student on the back, as he went into his respective hallway while Ayumu went into his hallway. Tyriko's tone in talking suggested that he was confident in his pupil, but once Ashik left to go into his hall, Tyriko's face turned into one of doubt. He knew Ashik was still going to hold back.

During this period, Okara had figured out why he didn't even notice Ayumu at all. Ayumu had absolutely no power level. The saiyan, who thought he had trained immensely on Borea to drastically increase his sense of ki, was now doubting himself. He got absolutely no trace of anything on Ayumu. Not even a little bit of ki was felt on the boy.

Ashik walked out of his hallway. As he did, however, teenage girls all over the entire audience cheered for him. Countless paper signs of hearts and statements about their feelings of the namekian were raised up. In response, Ashik waved to his adoring fans. " _IN THE LEFT CORNER, WE HAVE ASHIK! THIS NAMEKIAN WARRIOR IS KNOWN THROUGHOUT THE WORLD AS THE ONE PERSON ON EARTH WHO'S GOING TO TAKE THE MANTLE OF THE NEXT OFFICIAL GUARDIAN OF NAMEK! TRAINING VIGOROUSLY AT THE YOUNG AGE OF 17, HE HAS BEEN TAUGHT THE WAY OF NAMEKIAN MARTIAL ARTS, A LEGENDARY TYPE OF FIGHTING WIDELY CONSIDERED AS ONE OF THE DEADLIEST AND MOST POWERFUL STYLES OF FIGHTING TO BE EVER CREATED! ALONG WITH HAVING A SUPREME KNOWLEDGE OF FIGHTING TECHNIQUES, HE HAS BEEN GUIDED AND PERSONALLY MENTORED BY THE NAMEKIAN GENERAL AND HEALE, TYRIKO! RECENTLY, HE'S ALSO BEEN HELPING OUT LOCAL HUMAN COMMUNITIES AROUND NAMEK, PUTTING CRIMINALS IN JAIL WITHOUT HARMING THEM AND HELPING OUT WITH THE NEEDS OF OTHER CITIZENS! WHAT A NICE GUY! THE NEXT GUARDIAN OF NAMEK HAS NEVER LOOKED SO PREPARED, AND NOT TO MENTION, DASHING!"_

Ayumu then proceeded to walk out of his hallway. " _IN THE RIGHT CORNER, WE HAVE AYUMU! I WOULD GIVE A SUPER HYPE SPEECH ABOUT WHAT OUR DATABASE HAS GOT ON HIM, BUT UNFORUNATELY, WE KNOW ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT HIM! BEFORE THIS TOURNAMENT, HE HAD ABSOLUTELY NO RECORD OF FIGHTING OR TRAINING AT ALL! HOWEVER, WE SHOULDN'T LOSE FAITH IN THIS YOUNG MAN! HE DID, AFTER ALL, BEAT THE STRONGEST SAIYANS IN THE WEST AND EAST SAIYAN VILLAGES, GETTING AN EXACT SCORE OF 100,000! AND, AS WE COULD OBVIOUSLY SEE FROM THE LAST FIGHT, WE CAN'T COUNT OUT THE UNDERDOG JUST YET, AS AYUMU MIGHT HAVE SOME TRICKS UP HIS SLEEVES! DO NOT COUNT HIM OUT OF THE TOURNAMENT JUST YET, FOLKS!_ "

Both the namekian warrior and the scared kid stepped onto the arena and faced each other. Ashik began to bow, but apparently, Ayumu had taken his action as an attack. Immediately as Ashik began moving his head, Ayumu put his hands in front of him and fell to the floor, bawling.

"Please! Don't hurt me! I've got so much left to live for!"

And again, once Ashik looked at the poor boy, he felt pity. So, being as honorable as he was, Ashik helped the scared kid up and told him, "Don't worry. I will try to harm you as little as possible. Just do your best, okay?" Ashik said as he politely put his hand out for a handshake.

"O-O-O-Okay…" Ayumu stuttered, cautiously shaking his hand while also acting nervous.

" _NOW…"_

The two fighters then separated, gaining distance from each other. Ashik took a never before seen fighting stance, one that would look unfamiliar to any seasoned martial artist. Ayumu, on the other hand, curled up into a ball and looked as if he were about to cry.

" _LET THE FOURTH ROUND_ _ **BEGIN!**_ "

And in an instant, the corner of Ayumu's quivering mouth formed a smirk.

o – o – o – o – o

 _It is now Ashik and Ayumu's turn to fight, and to show what they're made of! However, for some odd reason, Tyriko doubts his skilled pupil! What could possibly be the reason for that?!_

 _Also, Okara didn't get even a little sense of any ki coming off of Ayumu! What in the world could this mean?!_

 _Is Okara's great ki sensing ability becoming impaired due to the injuries sustained from his fight with Izumi? Or could it be something else? Something having to do with Ayumu?_

 _Is Ayumu even who he portrays himself to be?!_

 _Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter of Dragon Ball Newcomers!_


	9. 5: Not What He Seems

" _LET THE 4_ _th_ _ROUND OF THE TOURNAMENT…_ _**BEGIN!**_ "

The namekian just stared at his curled up, sobbing opponent. He kept his stance, but he just kept on thinking to himself how in the world his opponent got such a high score. Ashik stood there, waiting for his opponent to do anything, but Ayumu just sat there and whimpered.

Okara was incredibly disappointed. _This… this is the warrior who beat the two other saiyans?! This crying mess?! How pathetic!_ The saiyan couldn't stand to watch the fight anymore. He went over to one of the couches and took a seat, acting extremely bitter as he did so. The young namekian's mentor, however, was quite the opposite. Tyriko stood next to the window with his arms crossed, his mouth forming a concerned frown. _What in the world could Ayumu have in store… Think, ya old turd, think!_ Tyriko was trying to use his strategic mind to find out any possible way that Ayumu could win, but he couldn't think of anything plausible. The blonde haired kid had absolutely no power level at all, and he was currently cowering in a ball on the arena floor. In Tyriko's mind, the only way that the kid really got his score had to be due to…

 _An error in the machine!_ Thought Ashik to himself. _Ayumu must have gotten in due to a fluke in the machine's processing system! Of course!_ The namekian put his guard down once figuring it out. He knew that his mentor warned him about this, but he couldn't fight a defenseless civilian. It was against his code.

Ashik called out to his competitor. "Ayumu!" The wimpering young adult looked up, sniffling. "…Y-Y-Yeah?" he asked. "It seems like you're starting to regret entering the tournament. Please, if you're scared, leave the arena. I don't want a powerless civilian like you getting hurt," stated Ashik.

Ayumu stared blankly at Ashik, and then shook his head. "I'm… sorry, but no. I've been training so much… I-I-I can't let my friends and family d-down! They b-b-believe in me!" The boy stood up, shaking.

Ashik looked at Ayumu with utter confusion and doubt. "Are… are you sure? Are you sure you want to do this?"

The young man nodded. Ashik then took a deep breath, and then vanished from his original position. He immediately appeared in front of Ayumu, but he took a millisecond to see what his competitor would do in response. However, to his dismay, Ayumu didn't even seem to react to his movement; he didn't seem like he could even see Ashik move that fast. Without hesitation, the namekian made up his mind. Ashik put his thumb and his index finger together and put his hand next to Ayumu's chest. He then released his fingers, effectively flicking Ayumu with less than a fraction of his power.

"AAHHHH!"

This weak attack sent the seemingly innocuous boy flying across the arena. Ayumu, after bouncing on the floor a couple times, landed on his side with a thud. He was heard wailing due to what seemed like serious injuries.

Ashik gasped. He couldn't believe it. He had hurt an innocent young man and broke his code. The namekian rushed over to the crying Ayumu while the audience, who was initially on Ashik's side, began to boo the young guardian in training. He came to Ayumu, turned him on his back, and began inspecting him all over. "Are you okay?! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to… I didn't know…"

But then that was when it happened. Ayumu, once again, formed a smirk in the corner of his mouth.

With his back turned over, Ayumu had both of his palms on the floor of the ground. With his hands in the position that they were, a tiny yellow light began to emit from his palms; so small that only someone who looked specifically at the underside of his hands would be able to see it. Tyriko, however, was one of those people. After a brief, miniscule flash of yellow light, a tiny explosion was heard, and so dark grey smoke instantly filled up the arena, covering the two fighters in a thick smog.

And that was when Okara heard it.

The saiyan's eyelids shot open as he rushed to the window, next to Tyriko to see what had just transpired. However, Okara just couldn't see anything; the smoke was too intense and thick that he couldn't make out anything that was going on.

"That kid…" said Tyriko offhandedly. "He's hidin' something…" Okara had already figured that out. However, for anyone to hide their ki so well… even he couldn't do that, and Okara was already a master of ki control. The saiyan was just incredibly baffled at the prospect of an earthling, who wasn't even a saiyan or a namekian, being able to master their ki that well. Or perhaps…

 _It was something else?_

After a couple seconds of nothing but anticipation, the audience saw it. One of the competitors was seen flying horizontally out of the smoke, and out of bounds. They fell out of the arena, and landed on the grass floor, however on their feet. The fighter looked confused, but they didn't seem injured in the slightest; just a little bit shaken. He was about to jump back in the ring, but he realized… that he was actually out of bounds.

Ashik had been eliminated from the tournament.

" _WHAT IN THE… UM… OKAY… DUE TO ASHIK GETTING PUSHED OUT OF BOUNDS, I THINK AYUMU… IS THE WINNER!_ "

"…How…?! How the hell is that even possible?! I demand an a-"

"I don't know."

Okara looked at Tyriko, astonished. At this point, the saiyan had accepted that the old namekian was an incredibly gifted strategist, one that was better than himself. So, to hear him admit that he didn't know how Ayumu won startled him.

"However…"

"What?" asked Okara, desperate for an answer.

"I think it has something to do with his palms. You probably didn't notice him at all during the time we spent with him in the waiting room, I assume?"

"No. I forgot he even existed, until this point."

"Yeah. Me too. But now, looking back, whenever I had a good look at him, he always had his hands formed into a fist. Whenever I looked at him fully, he's always had his palms covered, with his hands forming a fist. However, you didn't get to see this, but when he fought Ashik, his palms were open faced to the ground. A tiny, tiny yellow light then flashed from his palms for a very brief period, and then smoke formed. I think it's pretty safe to assume that the smoke came from the palms of his hands, so the real question is… what is he hiding? The only thing I can think of is that there's something in his palm that he wants to keep secret… maybe a weapon?"

Okara thought all of this over. "Maybe… Wait a second. Why are you telling me all of this?" Tyriko glanced at Okara and chuckled. "Simple. It's 'cause you're his next opponent, and I hate seeing cheaters win." The saiyan closed his eyes and smiled as he headed back to the couches to take a seat. "Hmph. I guess I'll have to thank you for that. If you hadn't told me, I would have let my guard down as well." Tyriko nodded. "My pleasure."

Shorts entered the room once more. "Am I too late? Did I miss my fight?"

"Nope. Luckily, you made it just in the nick of time." answered Tyriko.

"Oh, thank Dende!" Shorts exclaimed.

Just as the blue haired quarter-saiyan said that, however, a loud snort was heard in the corner of the room. "Huh?! What happened?!" Gonkuro asked as he was just waking up from a nap. He realized what had happened, and then began to yawn and wipe both of his eyes. "Did Ashik win yet…?" he asked. Shorts, realizing that the battle between Ashik and Ayumu had just taken place, added, "Yeah, did he win?"

Tyriko shook his head. "Sadly, no. After all that I had told him, he let his guard down." Both of Gonkuro and Shorts's mouths dropped to the floor. "ASHIK LOST TO AYUMU?!" They both asked in unison. As they doubted the victor of the round, however, Ayumu entered the room.

"H-H-Hello everyone…"

Gonkuro walked up to him. "You… you won?" The kid with glasses scratched his head. "I… think I did? I'm not actually sure what happened… All of a sudden the arena was covered in smoke, and in the next moment, the announcer said… I won."

Both Okara and Tyriko looked at the boy directly at his palms, and as they thought, his hands were clamped into fists.

Following Ayumu's entrance, an uninjured Ashik walked through his side of the room. The namekian looked incredibly disappointed in himself, and so Tyriko walked up to him. "I told you! I warned you before the fight to not let your guard down, and you disobeyed my one order!"

Ashik looked at the ground. "I understand. I have brought shame upon both you and all of Namek, and for that, I am wholeheartedly sorry."

"Yeah, yeah. Just don't do that next time, you understand, kid?! No matter who your opponent is, do not underestimate them! You were fighting for everyone back at home, and you let them all down! Next time, make them proud! Got it?"

"Yes sir."

Then the announcer came back on. " _ALRIGHT! The Quarter-Final matches have finished, and so, the Semi-Final matches will now be displayed !"_

On the big black billboard that had previously showed the first matches lit up once more. This time, there were only two instead of the previous four.

It went as follows:

 **Gonkuro vs. Shorts**

 **Okara vs. Ayumu**

" _Let's get the Tournament moving, shall we? Competitors Shorts and Gonkuro may now enter the arena!"_

Shorts and Gonkuro both looked at each other, with big smiles on their faces. "So… I guess I'll see you out there!" exclaimed Shorts happily, as he began to walk towards his tunnel. "Just don't go too hard on me!"

"Oh, ha-hah. Very funny," responded Gonkuro, laughing while shaking his head. He also began to walk towards his tunnel, when suddenly, he stopped and looked back at Okara.

"Hey, new guy!" Okara looked up at him with a fierce look. "What is it?"

"Remember when I said that we won't get the chance to fight in the tournament?"

"Yeah…?"

Gonkuro smirked. "Just… just do me a favor and watch this fight." Okara took a second to think, and then he nodded. Gonkuro then turned back around and ran out his hallway.

" _IN THE LEFT CORNER, WE HAVE SHORTS, AND IN THE RIGHT, GONKURO! THIS IS GOING TO BE THE BATTLE OF THE TOP SEEDS! BOTH OF THEM HAVE TRAINED TOGETHER ATOP THE TALLEST TOWER ON EARTH EVER SINCE THEY WERE CHILDREN! THEY KNOW EACH OTHER SO WELL, THAT IT'S GOING TO BE REAL HARD TO SURPRISE EACH OTHER! THEIR FIGHTS ON THE TOWER HAVE NOT BEEN RECORDED OR SEEN BY ANY NORMAL PERSON, SO THIS IS THE FIRST TIME WE'RE ACTUALLY GOING TO SEE THEM SPAR! HOW EXCITING!"_

Gonkuro and Shorts both went up onto the arena and stood a couple feet away, looking at each other with smiles.

"Let's make this one flashy! I want the audience, and…" Gonkuro looked at Okara in the waiting room. "I want everyone to know how strong we really are."

Shorts nodded in agreement. "I'm fine with that." They both took their fighting stances, with both being the identical. They chuckled. "Just like the old days, huh? With Mr. Piccolo?" asked Shorts.

"Yeah! I can't wait!"

" _LET THE FIFTH ROUND…_ _ **BEGIN!**_ "

The two purple clad warriors both immediately turned their hair gold in unison. It was a sight to behold- the floor began to crack as stones and rocks began floating into the air, as they charged at each other with an incredible force. Okara still had his arms crossed, but was secretly impressed.

Gonkuro and Shorts didn't pull any punches. The impact of their fists colliding was felt everywhere, as gusts of wind blew away the audience's hats, phones, and other accessories. The two warriors were very close in terms of power and how many hits they got in, but it was clear who was winning. They both traded many powerful punches, but their exchange ended with Shorts landing a big, clean hit on Gonkuro's face. This sent the messy haired warrior flying backwards, but he immediately caught himself and wiped his mouth.

Gonkuro was panting heavily, and Shorts saw this. "You alright?" In response, Gonkuro laughed loudly. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay. In fact…" The black-haired fighter put two fingers on his forehead, and teleported right behind Shorts. "I'm just getting started!"

He caught Shorts with a huge blow to his back, and so Shorts reacted to this by turning around and trying to hit him. Gonkuro dodged by teleporting once more, but Shorts knew where this was going- Gonkuro had used this little trick on him countless of times before. Once Gonkuro had reappeared next to the blue haired competitor, Shorts struck him, predicting where he would be.

"You know just using that technique won't work, Go!" Gonkuro laughed. "I was just testing you! Good to see you haven't lost your touch!"

"But I've got a lot more than that!"

Shorts smiled. "I know. I can't underestimate you; I know that. That's why I'm going to try and end it now!" Shorts began to charge at his childhood friend, forming a fist as he went. Gonkuro began firing multiple ki blasts at Shorts, but to his surprise, Shorts took them all head on.

"WHAT?!" _I thought he would've dodged them, giving me enough time to evade his charge, but he took them head on?! How-_ And that was when Gonkuro saw that Shorts had an outline of ki around him. He had formed a barrier. Once Shorts had gotten close enough to Gonkuro, he uppercutted his black-haired friend in his stomach, sending him flying upwards. The blue-haired warrior flew up to Gonkuro and was about to hit him out of the ring, but before he could do so, Gonkuro barely managed to put his fingers on his forehead and teleported out in time. Shorts then flew back onto the arena.

"Damn. You know me better than I thought." Shorts laughed. "I mean, I'm just your best friend who's known you since you were, like, five!"

"Yeah." Gonkuro began to think something over in his head. "Say, Shorts!"

"Yeah?'

"How 'bout you take this up a level?"

"What?! Already?!"

"I mean… I just thought about this," said Gonkuro, panting. "If we keep on fighting at our super saiyan forms, the audience won't get a good show. We know each other too well, and so we'll just predict what each other will do easily, and you'll win because you're just stronger. I think we should make things a little more… _unpredictable_ ," Gonkuro stated with a smirk.

Shorts finally understood what he meant. "You don't mean-"

"Yeah. I mean it."

"Alright. If you're up for it, I'm down!" Shorts exclaimed excitedly as he began to stretch. "It's been a while since you've used this! You sure you can do it again?"

"Yup. I'm sure."

Shorts stopped stretching and began powering up rapidly. "Then let's do this!"

His already golden hair began to stand up, getting more and more spiky. He started to yell, and the more he yelled, the higher his power became. The floor began to form massive cracks as just the energy from his power blew everything back. With one final yell, he transformed. It looked like he was a super saiyan, but it was different; it looked more fierce. His hair stood up much more, and now, there was plasma coming off of his body, as if he was being covered in electricity. This was no ordinary super saiyan. This was the transformation known as Super Saiyan 2.

Okara half-expected this. He knew that both Shorts and Gonkuro were going to be incredibly strong and powerful, and he guessed that their power had surpassed his by a fair amount, but seeing it up close was jarring for him. He was still at the window, crossing his arms, but he was speechless. He didn't even know a super saiyan 2 existed, but there was one thing he did know: He was going to obtain that form and whatever other form there might be and surpass both of them.

After some time, Shorts calmed down. While still being a super saiyan 2, he powered down and restrained his ki. Gonkuro smirked.

"My turn."

He powered up, yelling and causing cracks and wind all over the tournament area like Shorts, but his powerup was different. His hair didn't spike up at all and no plasma had begun to radiate off of him; instead, a small outline of red ki formed on top of his already yellow ki. It began to rise as he yelled, becoming more dominant over the yellow ki, and covering it in a red hue.

Unlike the last transformation, Okara was surprised by this one. _What is this, now?! This isn't the next level of a super saiyan! It's… something else! He's still a normal super saiyan, but he's adding something onto it that's increasing his power dramatically!_

Then suddenly, both his golden ki and red ki vanished, leaving Gonkuro only with his yellow hair. He smiled.

 _What is he…_

"KAIOKEN!"

Gonkuro's ki came flooding back, engulfing him in a much bigger golden aura. However, the major difference was that there was now another aura covering the golden one; it was the red ki that he had used earlier, except now, it was huge.

Okara was astounded. Not only was there a second form of super saiyan, but there was also a technique that could amplify the power of a regular super saiyan drastically. At this point, Gonkuro's power level was about the exact same as Shorts's was.

"NOW… WE'RE EVEN!" shouted Gonkuro, being able to barely maintain his power.

"Yeah… but how long can you maintain that?"

"LET'S FIND OUT!" Gonkuro rushed at Shorts, catching him off guard and hitting him with a big clothesline in his stomach. This caused Shorts immense pain, but it didn't slow him down. Immediately after that blow, Shorts came back with one of his own, shoving his fist into Gonkuro's stomach as well. They both went back and forth, hitting each other over and over again, just like how they were fighting when in their normal super saiyan states.

"You surprised me, but again, I've dealt with this before!" said Shorts as he was trading blows with Gonkuro. "The best way to fight you while you're using the kaioken like this…"

"Is to not fight you!"

Shorts quickly switched up his fighting style. Instead of hitting him, the blue haired combatant blocked and dodged as much as he could, conserving his energy. Gonkuro relentlessly pounded on Shorts's guard, injuring him a fair amount, but while Gonkuro attacked, Shorts built up his energy.

"SHIT, SHIT, SHIT, SHIT, SHIT! STOP BLOCKING, YOU TURD-NUGGET!"

"Whatever you say!"

As Shorts made this remark, he immediately followed up with a hit to Gonkuro's jaw, sending him soaring into the sky. Gonkuro didn't get stunned and they engaged in an exchange yet again, but this time, Shorts had the clear advantage. He was getting many more hits in and his attacks seemed much more powerful as well, compared to Gonkuro. Both of the fighters knew why.

After a few minutes of exchanging blows, they separated, with Gonkuro being the one with far more injuries. Shorts breathed heavily. "You were really strong at the start with the kaioken, but as you fought more and more, you got drained more and more. That technique puts a lot of stress on your body, so I figured that if I could wait you out, you would get weaker. Seems like I was right! This fight is looking like it's over," stated Shorts.

"Yeah… except you miscalculated."

"Huh?"

"You forgot one big thing."

"What's that?"

Gonkuro powered up even more, gaining more energy than he had when he first used the kaioken. "YOU FORGOT… THAT I COULD GO EVEN FURTHER BEYOND! KAIOKEN… TIMES THREE!"

The red ki came back to him once more, but this time, it was enormous. The warrior covered in a bright mixture of red and yellow teleported behind his blue haired foe and began to hit him with a hundred fists. He teleported behind him, in front of him, to his side; he came from everywhere, and in each millisecond that he became tangible, he hit Shorts with a dangerous blow.

Shorts felt each hit and was getting overwhelmed, but he knew his strategy the moment Gonkuro revealed his plan. As soon as he began getting hit, he tried to block his attacks. Obviously more than half of the attacks hit him, but he was saving his energy once more. Shorts knew that after a couple of seconds, Gonkuro was going to turn out more damaged than he was.

Over and over he got hit, and over and over he took each one without becoming unconscious. At one point, Gonkuro was sending Shorts flying around the arena, hitting him from one place to the other. Yet still, Shorts maintained his defenses.

After a barrage of hits, Gonkuro knocked Shorts high into the air, just barely below the barrier dome that was set in place. He flew up to his competitor, preparing to knock him back down, but before he could do so, he froze up. Shorts, who previously had his eyes closed, opened them. He looked at Gonkuro and saw him not moving, his eyes becoming almost all white. Gonkuro's muscles were all twitching, moving around as if they were living organisms, and they were obviously causing him a massive amount of pain. Before he even knew it, his red and yellow ki vanished, and he yelled in pain. Shorts, seeing his opportunity, grabbed onto Gonkuro's leg and threw him into the grass, making him crash outside of the ring.

" _WOW… DUE TO GONKURO GETTING PUSHED OUT OF BOUNDS, SHORTS IS THE WINNER!_ "

Shorts powered down from his super saiyan 2 state and back into his base form. He rushed over to Gonkuro. "Go! You okay?!" He heard a groan in response.

Shorts yelled in the direction of the waiting room. "HEY! SOMEONE OVER THERE, PLEASE GET THE BROWN BAG OF BEANS ON ONE OF THE COUCHES, AND HURRY UP!"

"I got it," stated Ashik, taking the brown bag and tossing it out of the window to Shorts.

"THANKS!"

Shorts rushed over to Gonkuro. The beaten fighter laid on the grass with his arms and legs spread out, his muscles still twitching. "Ow… Ow, ow, ow! Damn, this hurts!"

"Hey, don't worry. You know the procedure." Gonkuro opened his mouth. Shorts took a bean out of the bag and fed it to Gonkuro. After a couple seconds, Gonkuro sat up looking healthy as ever. "Wow. That… that hurt me a lot more than I thought it would."

"Yeah, you big doofus! That was so stupid, putting kaioken times three over your normal super saiyan state! What were you thinking?!" yelled Shorts.

"Calm down! I just wanted to show everyone and you how much I've improved. It's not like I've just happened to figure out that I could do kaioken times three. I've trained for it."

Shorts sighed. "You better train harder next time. I don't want you lying on the ground half-dead, Go."

Gonkuro laughed. "I'll be fine! What's the worst that could happen to me?" Shorts glared at him intensely, causing him to back down. "Don't answer that. It was rhetorical!"

The full blooded saiyan simply thought to himself while in the waiting room. The fight that had just occurred blew his theories about Gonkuro's limits out of the water. Gonkuro just had so many powerful techniques that Okara had never knew existed. The technique that he had just displayed worried Okara the most; it amplified his power too much that Okara was losing more and more hope as time went by. He had misjudged Gonkuro, and now, he had much more respect for him.

Both Gonkuro and Shorts came back into the room, laughing. Shorts took a seat on a chair while Gonkuro went over to Okara. "So… now you get it?"

"More or less."

The messy haired man chuckled. "Yeah. Just keep in mind; that wasn't even Shorts's full power. So good luck, buddy!"

"I'll keep that in mind."

If Okara were to win the tournament, it wasn't going to be easy; not at all. In fact, even his next fight worried him somewhat. He glanced over at Ayumu, who was reading a book on the couch. His hands were facing his own face, so Okara couldn't get a good look at them…

The saiyan knew what he was going to do. He flicked the air into Ayumu's direction with enough strength to force the air particles to push his hand to the side. It worked.

For a split, incredibly short millisecond, Okara saw a tiny bit of Ayumu's palm. What he saw, however, only confused him even more.

Okara saw a hint of the color red, right where the middle of Ayumu's hand should've been.

o – o – o – o – o

 _Gonkuro and Shorts, the two childhood friends, have just fought, with Shorts being the decisive victor! With Shorts being shown to be even more powerful than Gonkuro, how will Okara ever hope to win the tournament?!_

 _And not only that, but will he even win his next round? His competitor, Ayumu, had eliminated Ashik prior to Gonkuro and Shorts's fight, making him out to be more than what he looks like on the surface!_

 _His power level and abilities also seem to be a complete myster, as even Tyriko, one of the most brilliant minds on the planet, was not able to figure his power out!_

 _And what's with his palm? Okara sneakily exposed it for a short time, and it was… red?!_

 _What does this mean?! Who… or what… even is Ayumu?_

 _Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter of Dragon Ball Newcomers!_


	10. 6: The Deadly Duel of Absorption

" _Competitors Okara and Ayumu may now enter the arena!_ "

Okara glared intensely at his opponent, as Ayumu quickly reformed his hand back into a fist, making sure no one would notice. The saiyan, however, didn't buy it. He knew now that his competitor was hiding something, which was most likely a weapon, so he thought. Ayumu put his book down and nervously began walking to his hallway. Before he could get any farther, Okara called out to him.

"Ayumu."

The blonde-haired fighter jumped a little in surprise. He turned around. "Y-Yeah…?" Okara tried reading Ayumu's facial expression to see any hint or sign that he had something up his sleeve. This, however, led to nothing; the kid's face was nervous, with sweat and a frightened expression covering it.

"…Good luck."

Ayumu took a big gulp. "O-O-Okay…"

The two competitors walked into their respective hallways. On his way to his side, Okara glanced at Tyriko, and their sights connected. They both silently nodded to each other, and then Okara proceeded to walk out.

They both walked outside and onto the arena. " _IN THE LEFT CORNER, WE HAVE OKARA, AND IN THE RIGHT, AYUMU! THESE TWO ARE THE MOST UNPREDICTABLE FIGHTERS WE HAVE IN THE TOURNAMENT SO FAR! WE HAVE BASICALLY NO INFO ON EITHER OF THEM, SO THIS FIGHT SHOULD BE INCREDIBLY INTERESTING! WHAT WE DO KNOW, HOWEVER, IS THAT THEY SHOULD NOT BE TRIFLED WITH! AYUMU, WHO EVERYONE THOUGHT WOULD LOSE EASILY TO ASHIK, MANAGED TO BEAT HIM SOMEHOW! AND OKARA DEFEATED IZUMI IN HIS OWN ROUND, WHICH IS NO EASY FEAT IN ITSELF! THE BATTLE BETWEEN THESE TWO MYSTERIOUS FIGHTERS IS SURE TO ENTERTAIN!_ "

Okara, once again, simply stared Ayumu down, trying to observe every one of his actions. Seeing this, Ayumu was even more put off and got more nervous. This didn't faze the saiyan. _Don't underestimate him, don't underestimate him…_ he repeated to himself in his head. He wasn't going to hold much back, even if it was the beginning.

" _LET THE SIXTH ROUND…_ _ **BEGIN!**_ "

Okara immediately rushed right next to his opponent and punched him right in his face. The blond-haired fighter fell to the ground, and began crying, much like before. Okara didn't buy it, however. The saiyan rushed at his opponent while he was on the ground. This actually caught Ayumu by surprise- he stopped crying and instead sported a look of shock. _He probably thought I was going to give him time to recover and take me out like he did Ashik! This is my chance!_ thought Okara. While the audience was booing him, Okara's only goal was to win. However, Ayumu still had time to react. Instead of creating smoke with his ki using his palms on the ground, Ayumu raised up both of his hands up to Okara. He held two orbs of ki. _What?! He's going to blast me in front of everybody?!_

But, Ayumu acted differently. Instead of shooting the orbs, the two balls simply exploded, creating a field of dark smoke that once again cloaked the entire arena. This temporarily blinded Okara, but he wiped his eyes. He was not ready to lose; the saiyan was intent on beating Ayumu. However, the smoke in addition to Ayumu having absolutely no power level made that hard for Okara; he just couldn't sense him. But Okara heard a voice.

"So… Okara."

His voice was different. It was definitely Ayumu's voice that he heard, but it was vastly changed from the nervous, anxious voice that Okara had previously came from Ayumu's mouth. His current voice's tone was cold; it was metallic, monotone, and almost lifeless.

"Have you figured it out already? What I am?"

Okara fired in the direction where he heard the voice come from, but nothing seemed to hit. What made it hard was how it came from all over; it was as if Ayumu was surrounding him somehow and talking to him at the same time. If he wasn't trained to be mentally strong, Okara might have actually been afraid.

"I'm not certain, but I have a pretty good idea. For one, you're definitely not who you say you are."

"Correct. However, that is your limit on the information you have obtained from me, is that right?"

Okara realized that he wouldn't get anywhere firing stray shots at someone he couldn't detect. "Possibly. But, if that were truly the case, could you tell me what you are? That is, of course, if you're not too much of a coward to do so."

"Oh, you simple minded saiyan," replied Ayumu. "You have to understand that adhering to my emotion will not work. However, I will partially oblige. All you need to know is that I am not human. I do not eat or drink like a human, as I do not need to eat or drink. I do not think like a human, I process information. I do not feel like a human, because I was not made to feel."

"Why do you look like one then? What are you, if you're not a human?"

"That I cannot tell you," stated Ayumu monotonously. "My employer will not want me telling that information."

"What? Someone hired you?"

"'Hired' is the wrong definition."

"What are you here for then? Why did you even participate in the tournament to begin with?"

"That information is classified. All I can say is that my motive to joining the tournament was not to win. It was something else."

"Hmph." Okara thought all of the information that he's gained on Ayumu over, but there was one last inquiry he had for Ayumu. "Last question."

"Proceed."

"Why the hell are you telling me all of this?" asked Okara. "I'm assuming you want to keep up your façade of being a scrawny weakling, so why tell me? After this fight, I could easily tell everyone else about what you are and what you've told me, and then you'll be exposed. So then why?"

"Simple. I can black-mail you back. If you tell on me, then I will go on to act as if I was mortally injured by you during our fight. No one will be able to perceive what will happen during this fight, so I will easily be able to pretend as if I was incredibly hurt by you. This will then lead to everyone, including the world government, believing that you, as an alien saiyan, could be a menace to society. They would not want to take any chances, and they would prohibit you from seeing the rest of your race. Your intent on joining this tournament was to reunite with your race, was it not? So tell me, which statement would they believe: that a weak-looking human boy is actually somewhat powerful and not a human entirely, or that a new, mysterious, and intimidating alien is dangerous?"

 _How the hell did he know about my goal?! The only person I've told about it was Gonkuro, and he definitely didn't seem to know anything about Ayumu either!_ "Hmph. Fair enough, I guess."

"Now then… Shall we proceed with our fight?"

Out of nowhere, Ayumu came rushing out of the shadows. Having no power level, Okara couldn't sense him or see him coming, and so he got hit with a big haymaker to his face, sending the saiyan barreling towards one end of the arena. However, he quickly snapped out of it, and used his ki to make himself float still in the smoky air. Okara flew back down to his original fighting position.

 _Damn… This guy hits hard!_

Again, Ayumu came flying out of the smoke; however, Okara took this chance to learn from his attacker. He got hit again, and immediately stabilized himself, preventing him from falling off the stage. His sturdy Borean frame certainly helped him with that, but he also learned something after he got hit. _Ayumu, while having no ki, makes some sound whenever he lunges to attack me… I can hear it, just barely. He's also much more powerful than me at my base, so…_

Once again, Ayumu leaped towards Okara. This time, the saiyan heard him coming.

 _I'll have to make up for it!_

Swiftly, Okara boosted his ki fifty-fold, making his hair spiky and bright yellow and turning into a super saiyan. He used his immediate increase in speed to catch Ayumu's arm as he flew by, and flipped him over, making him land on his back onto the hard arena floor. Ayumu, however, didn't react in the slightest; his face was indifferent, emotionless. Once on the floor, Okara tried got on top of his chest and began pounding on his face. The saiyan hit the floor-bound fighter over, and over, and over again, but still, Ayumu didn't seem to react at all. His face was beginning to get extremely scratched up, yet he was still indifferent.

"You give up yet? Or do I have to make your face look even worse?"

Ayumu smiled coldly. "No. Not yet."

And that was when Okara had realized it. His battle ki was dropping, and dropping quickly. He was beginning to feel more and more tired, but it wasn't because he was using too much of his energy…

It was because it was being drained.

Okara turned his head to look behind him. Ayumu was grasping Okara's legs that were on his body. The saiyan could feel his energy being drained from that very spot. With a jerk of his hands, Okara began to blast Ayumu in the face while flying out of his reach at the same time. This worked, and so he flew back and landed on a different side of the arena. He was breathing heavily.

For a moment, after nothing had occurred, Okara thought he had won the fight. But it was far from over. Near the same position in which he was just previously at, another large cloud of smoke formed, covering the arena in yet another layer. Okara realized that the old one had nearly faded, and so Ayumu most likely created another layer to disguise himself even more. Whatever Ayumu was, he didn't want the public to know about his identity. But Okara was okay with this; the saiyan wanted to win fairly.

Out of the smoke, Ayumu flew at Okara again. They were both ready for each other's attacks this time, and so they engaged in a direct hand-to-hand fight. Okara relied on the fighting skills he had learned from the nigh-omniscient Boreans, using his strong defense to his advantage and taking hits from Ayumu to deliver stronger ones back. However, Ayumu's martial arts skilled were unusual. The mysterious fighter mainly used grapples and holds, making use of his open hands instead of fists. This however, lead to Okara discovering what were in his palms.

Okara saw a round, circular semi-dome protruding from the center of each of his palms. It was very odd, as it looked very unnatural on the blonde-haired kid, as if it was grafted onto his skin. This, however, was what led Okara to discovering why Ayumu used the fighting style that he did. _These circular attachments… They absorb my ki, as shown when Ayumu grabbed onto my legs with his palms. So… it would only make sense for Ayumu to use grappling techniques! Normally, grappling wouldn't be very useful in a martial arts fight, as it doesn't do much damage. However, with his ki absorbing palms, he can reduce my ki while also putting me into a hold! So that means…_

After they traded a couple more blows, Okara cartwheeled backwards to gain some distance, and then changed his fighting pose into a different one. It was the exact same that his previous foe had used against him. He got into a fighting stance that resembled a crane.

 _That means I just have to evade his attempts at grappling me, and then counterattack!_

"Saiyan. I commend your strategy, but I'm afraid it will not work. You simply do not have the experience and training necessary to be effective with that style of fighting," stated Ayumu indifferently.

"Oh yeah? You want to come at me and test that hypothesis of yours?"

"I do not see a reason not to."

Ayumu rushed at Okara once again, using the same grappling techniques. But this time, instead of letting him hold on and hitting him back, Okara dodged it. While his form wasn't so graceful, he managed to get the job done, and the saiyan struck back immediately with a copy of Izumi's pressure point attack. He managed to hit Ayumu, but the blonde-haired fighter didn't seem to be affected by it all too much. Instead of flinching in pain, he hit Okara back in the stomach, making the saiyan gasp for air.

"It is proven. My hypothesis was correct."

Okara yelled in defiance, and got back up into taking that same fighting stance. However, after Ayumu had tried to grapple Okara, the same event repeated itself. Okara dodged and counterattacked, but instead of hurting his opponent, he simply got hurt back.

"Would you like to know where you went wrong, saiyan?"

Okara, in frustration, lunged at Ayumu this time, coming at him with a barrage of pressure point attacks. This was futile, however. Ayumu dodged most of them, with the ones that hit not doing much to any damage, and he struck Okara many times, making the saiyan fall nearly onto the ground. Okara took a knee while Ayumu towered above him. Ayumu then began lifting Okara by the throat, absorbing his ki as he did.

"You think that this one style of fighting will give you the complete edge over me. However, you are sorely mistaken. Firstly, you are not even close to mastering that style. You are incredibly sloppy when using it, making it much easier for me to hit you and less easy for you to dodge. To add onto that, your rage has blinded you. If you were level-headed like you usually are, then you would have seen that your pressure point attacks did absolutely nothing to affect me. Half of them did not hit my pressure points, but even the ones that did hit felt like nothing."

Okara was getting close to passing out, but he paid attention to what Ayumu said. He smirked. "Heh… Thanks for telling me. I'll be sure to improve next time."

With a burst of light, Okara yelled and surrounded himself in a circular field of ki. This field expanded rapidly, bursting outwards in a small explosion and sending Ayumu flying away. This blast didn't hurt Ayumu that much, but it did give Okara an easy way of escape out of the emotionless fighter's grasp. Okara then powered up even more and increased his ki.

"And… by next time, I meant now. I've only been fighting at around 70% of my full power. Now… this is my 100%!"

His ki shot up in a straight spike. He glowed a bright and powerful shade of gold, making the smoke around him ripple.

"Not only that, but now I know how to beat you. I'll just have to use the dodging techniques of the crane style in tandem with my own, strong counterattacks instead of pressure point attacks. So… can you feel it, Ayumu…? The foreboding, overwhelming, full power of a super saiyan?!" Okara exclaimed with a smile.

Ayumu smiled confidently. "I can certainly feel it. The true question is whether it is as overwhelming as you say it is. To be honest, I am feeling quite the opposite. I am underwhelmed."

Okara scowled. "Alright… If it's hard for you to feel it over there, why not up close then?!"

The saiyan charged at his cold opponent, using his own strong attacks to deal damage, and using the style of dodging exhibited by Izumi. Although the plan made sense in his head, it wasn't very effective in gaining the upper hand on his opponent. He was doing much better than before, but he was still getting beaten. Ayumu used quick, instant punches and then followed them up with holds. The blonde-haired fighter's attacks seemed to be doing much more than the saiyan's all-out barrage.

Okara, after getting hit another time, backed up. "H…How? How is this possible?!"

Ayumu smirked. "Simple. Your ki has diminished over time. Your excessive usage of your own ki coupled with my rapid absorption of it leaves you with little to be spared. You, Okara, while at 100% right now, is less than 60% of what your ki could be if you hadn't used up all of it."

"What?! No! That can't be true!" _Damn it! I'm such an idiot! I should have been more aware of my ki usage! Now… now I'm done for. It's ov-_

 _No… no it isn't. Not yet. I still have one technique that'll make me win for sure… but I can't use too much of it. I need to save at least a little for Shorts._

"This match is finished. Prepare to be eli-"

"No, it isn't."

"Oh?" Ayumu said monotonously. "What is it?"

The outline of the bright, yellow, super saiyan ki that covered his whole body had begun to change color. Instead, the outline turned into a shade of pale-yellow that encompassed Okara's whole body. Now the saiyan had two auras; his super saiyan aura, and now this pale yellow one.

"You're not the only one with the ability to absorb ki, Ayumu!"

The scarlet-palmed warrior finally changed his expression. He was a little bit shocked. "What do you mean, exactly?"

Okara laughed. "Remember the last fight I had with Izumi? The more she hit me, the more ki she fed me! While you don't give me a lot of power when you hit me, Izumi had a whole lot of unused, excess ki that she gave off with every single punch she threw! Call if kinetic energy or ki that came from her aura, I don't care. What matters now is that I still have this whole batch of unused, new ki that Izumi gave me. But… that's not all. The last blast she fired at me contained so much energy, even _I_ was overwhelmed by it. But that energy… it went directly to me! I absorbed it! Now, with the power of her blast and kinetic energy added to my own super saiyan ki…"

" _THERE'S NO TELLING HOW FAR MY POWER GOES!_ "

The pale-yellow aura surrounding his own super saiyan aura instantly became exponentially bigger. This caused Ayumu to smile once more. "Hm. How intriguing." He fired a large cloud of smoke, replacing the old layer that was wearing down. "Let us see this power, then."

" _RRAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHH!_ "

With all of his might, Okara rushed down Ayumu using power and speed alone. The saiyan was angry and desperate; if he was going to win this fight, he was going to have to win now. Okara was exaggerating his own power in an attempt to frighten Ayumu, but it seemed to not work. So, the saiyan's only option left was to beat him in a fair fight before he ran out of his absorbed ki.

The absorbed ki added on to his own more than made up for his lack of energy, however. Okara put Ayumu on the defensive, making each punch hit extremely hard. All Ayumu could do was block; Okara was just too fast and too powerful to risk taking hits from. Like Shorts to Gonkuro, Ayumu was planning on tiring Okara out. The saiyan, however, recognized his strategy.

"You really think I'd be so foolish as to make the same mistake as Gonkuro?! That's where you're wrong!"

Okara flew up, diagonally into the air in the opposite direction of Ayumu. He held out both of his hands.

"YOU'RE FINISHED!"

His palms lit up with energy, as he pointed them straight at Ayumu. With both of his hands intertwined together, he began to fire a rapid barrage of powerful ki blasts, all of them aimed directly at the blonde-haired man. But, unexpectedly, Ayumu simply stood where he was, waiting for the blasts to hit him. Before they did, he put both of his hands to the sky and opened his palms, once again revealing the two semi-circular orbs that were attached to them.

The dozens of ki blasts Okara fired came raining down upon Ayumu. Okara made sure that they were directly on target, and for the most part he did well in that regard; however, there was an unexpected problem. None of the blasts hit his opponent.

With both of his hands, Ayumu looked as if he had caught every single one of the blasts. He quickly put his palms next to every single one of them, and it seemed as if the red dot on his hands sucked them, pulling them into its scarlet mass, and making them disappear into nothingness. He did this to the rest of the short volley Okara threw before the saiyan had stopped and realized what was happening.

"No… NO! It can't be! DAMN IT!" Okara screamed in frustration. He was just using his ace in the hole, and now, it seemed like the match was going to go on even further.

"What's wrong? Are you surprised that I can absorb energy attacks directly with my palms? Well… do not be sad just yet. The fight has only begun."

Okara flew down to the ground and grunted. "You're right. I've not even started to tap into my full power."

The two ran at each other, punching and kicking once more. This time, they were even again. Okara used his mixed fighting style, while Ayumu used his grappling style, both with mixed success. Although, the saiyan tried fighting more strategically; he lowered his defensive ki while he was attacking to focus it into his strike, making his punches and kicks more effective while conserving his ki. But this wasn't enough. Being even with Ayumu truly meant that he was losing; with every touch Ayumu got on Okara, he gained more energy, while Okara was using it. The saiyan was, although very, very gradually, losing the fight.

Of course, being as analytical as he was, Okara knew this was occurring; the main problem was that this time, he didn't have an answer for his decreasing ki. He had used up all of his techniques, and was getting extremely desperate. There was only one more ability he could try to re-use, but it was incredibly risky. There would be a good chance the saiyan would easily get eliminated if he performed it, but at the same time, if it worked, there would be a good chance he would win the fight, as well.

Okara took that risk. He flew backwards, away from fighting Ayumu again.

"Oh? Are you finally realizing the futility of your efforts? Are you retreating because you are in fear of what I have become?" asked Ayumu.

"No, you cheat bastard." Okara sighed, and then extended both of his arms outwards to his sides. His stance opened up, and his legs became wider. It looked as if he was about to hug someone.

"Ayumu… I'm going to give you this one chance. Hit me, with everything you've got."

His opponent scoffed. "And why would I have the need to do that? It is already assured that I will win the fight. You make it seem like you are stalling for time."

"Hear me out. I'm… I'm giving up. I know that I don't stand a chance against your power right now. I'm aware of that. But, my saiyan pride won't allow me to just leave the fighting stage. I want to go out with a bang, falling off only after you've given it everything you've got. So why not just eliminate me with one, big blast… instead of wasting ki trying to punch and kick me off the arena for hours on end?"

Ayumu stood still, with a blank stare. "That is… acceptable."

The opposing fighter began moving back, away from Okara further. He put his hands together, with his wrists connected, his palms opened up, and his fingers spread out. They were directly parallel to each other, with one hand being on the right and the other on the left. Then, a small ball of ki began to form in between his hands, growing more power but keeping the same size. This ball became more and more concentrated as time went on.

Okara bravely kept his stance: he was completely wide open. The saiyan lowered his ki defenses just enough so that only some of the blast would directly hit him, while some of it would impact his ki barrier. _I just have to withstand this blast,_ Okara thought to himself. _If I absorb enough energy, I'll be able to beat him… I just need to survive it._

And then, all at once, hell was unleashed upon the saiyan warrior.

The blast struck him with an intense physical pain that Okara had never quite experienced before. However, he stood his ground. The fighter stood still using the ability to become sturdy that he gained from his fellow Boreans, enduring the whole duration of the blast. After it had passed, only Okara was left, standing completely motionless on his two legs. From a distance, it would seem like Okara persevered very well.

But, Ayumu knew it was over. The saiyan's eyes were glazed, and his muscles were twitching. The only thing that kept him up was pure willpower and adrenaline. Once that wore off, it was over. Okara began to fall onto the floor.

His memories began flooding back to him. His first landing on earth, when he had just woken up from being asleep for two years. His first interaction with Gonkuro, and the tension that had immediately sprung from just their first greetings. The news of the tournament, and the thought of a chance to see his own race for the first time that motivated him. His first battle with Izumi, the energetic, bald girl that reminded him of his previous family. And then he went back further into his past, recalling the events that took place on Borea. His first peaceful interaction with the trees, his inauguration that made him officially part Borean. His first days of training to become a powerful warrior, and the first time he learned about… the Cave. The Cave… what had he done in the Cave again? Ah, yes… He dreamt… dreamt about all of the wonders of fate, swimming in the pool of vibrant colors, and being assured that his future was bright… but there was something at the end of that dream… something that disturbed him…

Of course… how could he forget…?

Fire was everywhere. Destruction ran rampant across Okara's entire surroundings, but unlike last time, the saiyan recognized these surroundings. It was the city that he had first landed in; the first city he had made contact with on Earth. The entire city- all the buildings, shops, and restaurants- it was all covered in this cold, harsh fire. And in the center of it was someone Okara recognized. It was someone from his previous dreams.

It had been too long. It was his old friend: the cloaked man with the gray, bandaged face.

" _Wake up, Okara… You have to wake up…"_

 _ **You're next.**_

Okara stopped himself from falling to the ground. His eyes shot open, and he breathed extremely quick and heavy breaths. He stood up straight, incredibly injured, but much more powerful than he was before. He glared at Ayumu, now with a fiery, intense passion that he hadn't felt in a long time. This glare made even Ayumu take a step backwards.

"I'm _not_ losing this fight," Okara said firmly. He stood his ground, bending over due to his injuries. And then he powered up. His aura was brighter and more vibrant than ever before; it was incredibly massive, and overwhelming to say the least.

"That… is not possible. I calculated the power on that blast and your previous state. You should not have been able to withstand that blast."

"You calculated wrong then, you cheat bastard. Now… are you ready to lose?"

Ayumu stood still once again, as if he were making a decision in his head. After a while of silence, he responded.

"…Yes."

Okara stood his ground, maintaining his dominant presence, but was secretly in shock as he watched his formidable foe begin walking towards the edge of the arena.

"What happened to all that confidence?! I didn't think such a lifeless corpse like you could get so scared!"

"I'm not scared," replied Ayumu calmly. "I just have priorities. And currently, I have more than enough of your energy for my required mission, so I see winning the rest of the tournament at the cost of spending all of my ki as useless."

As Ayumu inched to the edge, he looked back and delivered one last message to Okara. "Oh… and if you tell anybody about what happened here… you know what I will do. Just tell the others that you could not control your newfound super saiyan ki well, resulting in an unwarranted, premature self-detonation. Say that, and I will be pleased."

Okara thought his options over, but found that Ayumu's advice was the only route to take. He powered down to his base form, and then nodded. "Very well."

"Hm," Ayumu said with a smile. "That's good."

The scarlet-palmed fighter leapt off the fighting stage and landed on the grass. He immediately changed his expression: with his eyes closed, he panted on the floor, and began to cough. He acted very well and believably; he really looked like he was injured. As he fell, the smoke faded from the area, leaving the sight of a broken arena and one very injured saiyan left standing on it.

" _Huh… DUE TO AYUMU GETTING PUSHED OUT OF BOUNDS, IT LOOKS LIKE OKARA IS THE WINNER!"_

Medics began to carry out Ayumu on a stretcher while Okara, clutching his battle-damaged arm, walked back into the waiting room. Once he entered, everybody looked at him in shock. He was bleeding from all over his body, and his already incredibly battle-damaged armor was even more broken. He limped over to one of the couches and sat down.

"Yo… Okara… What the hell happened to you out there?!" asked Gonkuro in shock. "We couldn't see anything because of the smoke. All we could do is sense your energy spike up to insane levels!"

"I couldn't control my super saiyan state," muttered Okara reluctantly. "I got too cocky and used my full power on Ayumu. The resulting transformation caused both the smoke and my injuries, due to my body not being able to hold all of that power in just yet. Basically, I blew myself up, which then led to Ayumu taking advantage of my condition and fighting me when I was at my weakest. I still beat him, obviously."

Gonkuro was surprised for a second, but then looked down upon Okara. "Wow. So… all your bragging led up to this? Honestly, I'm-"

"Shut up! Don't be so insensitive, Go!" yelled Shorts at his partner. The blue haired warrior pulled out his brown bag from his pocket and then grabbed a green bean from inside of it. "Eat this, Okara. It'll make you feel better."

"How the hell do I know it's not poison? You are fighting me next, after all."

Shorts got frustrated. "Look. If you fight me as you are right now, you won't stand a better chance at beating me than if you were poisoned, alright? Just eat it."

Okara grunted, but he obliged. Once ingesting the bean, he felt his power level rise tremendously. He looked at his hand and then formed a fist. _The energy I absorbed from Ayumu… It must have finally kicked in. And, I probably got a massive zenkai boost from getting beat up and being healed, as well!_ Okara thought to himself. He smirked confidently. _Alright! Now, with this much power, I might stand a chance against Shorts!_

But then the saiyan noticed something off. Both Ashik and Tyriko were missing.

"Hey, where did the two green guys go?"

"Oh, they left," Shorts replied. "Ashik wanted to go train as immediately as possible in order to become stronger. He was probably just disappointed at the result of his fight. But, Tyriko did want to give you a note. They saw you win, by the way."

Shorts handed Okara a ripped-up piece of paper. On it, in messy handwriting, it read: _Good jab beeting Ayumu. I shaw everyting. Callecting more data on him. More info cuming soon. -Tyriko._

 _…The universal vocabulary probably isn't Tyriko's main language,_ Okara thought to himself. _But wait a second…_

"One more thing," Okara said abruptly. "Why didn't they want to stay for the final fight? It _is_ the battle that'll decide the victor."

"It's because the winner has already been decided. Be honest with yourself, buddy; do you really think you have a chance against Shorts?" replied Gonkuro.

"Hey! I think it's possible he can win, when looking at everything. I mean, I don't even know if he's used up all his techniques yet!" protested Shorts.

"He's right," interjected Okara. "I still have one more."

Okara wasn't lying; he did have one more technique up his sleeve. However, this one was experimental. The saiyan had only realized that he actually even had it in his arsenal during the two weeks prior to the tournament. He didn't use it against Izumi because he felt like he could win without it, and he didn't use it against Ayumu because he thought that it would be too risky to use such an experimental technique on him. Okara felt that Shorts, however, would go easy on him like he did Tyriko.

" _Alright! Competitors Shorts and Okara may now enter the arena!_ "

"Nice. Feel free to go all out on me and use that technique, then," said Shorts as he began walking into his respective corridor.

"I will," replied Okara as he walked into his own.

Gonkuro looked annoyed. "Psh. Like it'll make a difference."

" _IN THE LEFT CORNER, WE HAVE SHORTS, AND IN THE RIGHT, OKARA! BOTH OF THESE FIGHTERS ARE THE FINALISTS OF THE TOURNAMENT, SO THAT ALONE SHOULD SAY A LOT ABOUT THEIR POWER! AND REMEMBER, THE WINNER OF THE TOURNAMENT WILL BECOME THE NEXT OFFICIAL CHAMPION OF EARTH! IF THEY WANT TO, OF COURSE… Because I'm not sure an alien that landed on Earth two weeks ago would want to be its defender… BUT REGARDLESS, WELCOME SHORTS AND OKARA, AND PREPARE FOR THE FIGHT OF YOUR LIFETIME, FOLKS!_ "

Both the fighters stepped up onto the arena. Shorts got into his usual fighting pose, while Okara opened up just as he did when he was about to take the full brunt force of Ayumu's blast.

"Are you ready?" asked Shorts.

"More than you'll ever know," said Okara in response.

" _NOW…_ "

" _LET THE FINAL ROUND OF THE TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS…_ "

" _ **BEGIN!**_ "

o – o – o – o – o

 _The beginning of the end of the Tournament of Champions has begun! The two competitors, Shorts and Okara, will now clash! Who will take home the victory?_

 _If Shorts wins the Tournament, will Okara's second place ranking be enough for Gonkuro and Shorts to let him meet his race? And, if Okara wins the Tournament, will he take on the position as the official Champion of Earth?_

 _What is this new technique Okara is hyping up? Will it be of any use against Shorts?_

 _Will Okara or Tyriko finally find out who Ayumu is, or what he is?_

 _Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter of Dragon Ball Newcomers!_


	11. 7: The Champion and the Hope

" _LET THE FINAL ROUND OF THE TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS…_ "

" _ **BEGIN!**_ "

In a brilliant flash of light, Okara became a super saiyan and boomed towards Shorts. _The best chance I got at beating him is right now! If I can catch him off guard, it's all over!_

He barraged Shorts with a flurry of the most powerful punches and kicks Okara could muster. This plan, however, was futile. Shorts was ready for this.

The blue-haired warrior immediately turned his hair yellow, and proceeded to block all of Okara's punches, getting pushed back only a little. He smiled. "Did you really think that would work?"

Shorts, after catching many of Okara's blows, pushed him back. The saiyan went tumbling, caught in the tides of Shorts's power. He steadied himself, bringing out wooden pillars from below the arena to prevent him from falling off of the stage. Okara knew what Shorts was about to do; but, he didn't interrupt his opponent. Okara had a plan.

Shorts, after knocking Okara back, wanted to stall for time in order to power up. He yelled for a brief second, and the yellow light that surrounded him grew even more intense. He was now sparking with plasma, like he was when he fought Gonkuro. He was a Super Saiyan 2, yet again.

"Whew!" said Shorts, wiping some sweat off his forehead.

"Why would you feel the need to ascend above the normal level of super saiyan against me?" asked Okara. "What made you feel the need to take that precaution? I'm only a normal super saiyan, and a new one at that."

"That's easy. I've learned from my mistakes," replied Shorts. "When I fought Tyriko, I made the error of greatly underestimating him. In a way, he kind of coached me. Now, in order to ensure my victory-"

He took his fighting stance.

"I'm going to use my full power from the start. Just to be safe, of course," he said with a smile.

Okara crossed his arms. "Hmph. Well, I hope you know that I let you increase your power."

"Oh, I'm fully aware of that. If you wanted a thank you, then-"

"No. Not exactly. I don't want you to thank me, but I do want you to do something else."

"Hm? Well, what is it?"

"Let _me_ power up," said Okara with a smirk.

Shorts was a little shocked, but this only excited him. "You can power up even more? Alright…! Let's see how strong you can get… for real."

Okara nodded. He quickly got into his fighting stance: his arms were tucked in and he widened his posture. On the surface, he was smiling at Shorts, and looked ready to fulfill his end of the deal; on the inside, however… he was nervous.

 _I've got to do this right! If I don't, he'll figure me out! I've just got to focus._ Okara took a deep breath, and then he closed his eyes.

The saiyan gritted his teeth. With all of his willpower, he forced himself to think about his experience in the Cave. He remembered his dream: the happiness he felt during the first half, where he lied down on a river of color and life, knowing that his future was ensured. And then he remembered the second half, where the river ended, and when he walked on the pathway of stars.

All of this was going through his head, over and over, on repeat. The saiyan wanted to bring out something… something that the All-Knowing Tree, Sugi, had promised him long ago.

 **Use** _ **it**_ **, and take it in. It shall be of great use to you in the future.**

Shorts was confused, not with what he saw, but with what he sensed. An enormous amount of ki was emanating off of Okara… but this type was nothing like Shorts had seen before. He couldn't see it coming off of the saiyan with his eyes, but when he used his ki sensing abilities, he felt it. It wasn't normal ki, but it was very similar to life essence; it felt exactly the same, yet it was so different. It was overwhelming, what Shorts sensed. This sensation was as if Okara had held an entire planet's life essence with him this entire time, and was bringing it out now.

It was the **ki of life**. The same ki that had sustained Sugi, and the same ki that Okara had absorbed from the Cave.

And with that, Shorts's vision began to blur. He began to feel dizzy, and nauseous, as if he was looking at the world while being underwater while a violent storm was transpiring. Okara, keeping his eyes shut, knew exactly what was going on. After all, Sugi told Okara himself.

 **This cave will be filled with this ki of life, making it it harder for you to breathe, and see.**

 **It will make you dazed, however, your training in the art of ki control will guide you.**

Okara was bringing out that ki of life he had absorbed some time ago. It flowed out of his body, as if it were a fog, spreading throughout the entire arena. Like Sugi had said, it was to make Shorts dazed. Even Okara, who had trained immensely to perfect ki control, had to concentrate as much as possible to navigate through this ki, and so that was why he had his eyes closed; however, Shorts had never received training of such caliber, and had no idea what was happening. However, that wasn't the only reason why Okara let this power flow out of his vessel.

Shorts felt a sharp pain in his stomach, one that knocked him down. He fell on his back, unsure of what had just happened, but before he could process it, he felt another blow hit him on the back of his head. Then another force hit him on his legs, one that made him trip, and fall down yet again.

Okara was controlling it. He was using Sugi's life force as if they were invisible fists. In his mind, the saiyan concentrated a large portion of the Great Tree's ki into one small area, and then sent that invisible force barreling towards Shorts. Okara was hitting his opponent with invisible attacks, and Shorts could not sense it either. This ki was too different from normal ki and even normal life ki. It was something entirely new.

The saiyan was stationary, keeping his odd stance while closing his eyes, while his opponent was being beaten left and right. Shorts tried blocking and dodging these attacks, but he just couldn't. It wasn't because they were too fast, because they were actually slower and less powerful than Okara's normal attacks, but it was because he was stunned by the ki as well. He couldn't see or think properly, and so most of these attacks connected.

After about a minute of getting hit by attacks he couldn't see, Shorts had enough. He tried locating where Okara was the best he could, getting a faint visual of Okara standing still. _All of these annoying attacks made of ki seem to be coming from him… he's the source. Therefore, I just have to disrupt his concentration!_ thought Shorts to himself.

He powered up, pushing the ki of life aside for a brief moment, and charged at the hazy figure that he knew was his opponent. In less than a second, Shorts's fist made brutal contact with Okara's face, and before the saiyan knew it, he was sent hurdling towards the other end of the arena. Again, he caught himself with wooden pillars, but at the same time, the ki of life faded from the arena, and retracted back into Okara's body. Shorts could sense it; the fog of ki that had previously covered him receded back, flowing into Okara's frame.

Okara got up and smirked as he wiped off the blood from his mouth. "You hit pretty damn hard. Figured how that move worked already?"

Shorts smiled in response. "Yeah, just enough to make you stop using it. It was pretty annoying."

"I could tell. So… from here on out, I guess it's just a straight-on fight, huh?"

"It looks like that's the case."

The two warriors stood directly across from each other. Both had great respect from one another, but both knew one was going to be victorious in the end. At the same time, they both yelled as they ran towards the other, determined to finish the fight.

They clashed, with one warrior easily taking the advantage. Shorts, in his ascended state, began tearing Okara apart. Okara fought back with his own blows, but they just weren't enough; his fearsome foe was just too fast and too strong for the saiyan to handle. Shorts kept on getting hit after hit on Okara's vital areas, while Okara didn't seem to lay a scratch on Shorts. It looked like it was going to be a mismatch.

 _Shit! He's completely out of my league!_ thought Okara. _I'm absorbing some energy from him, but I'm also taking way too much damage! I don't even think I'll be able to win if I used up all of my stored up ki at once… No, I at least have to try! I've got to win!_

Okara was now at the edge of the ring. Shorts yelled as he launched his fist forward, looking to end the fight. However, Okara caught it. With a burst of a pale-yellow aura on top of his normal super saiyan state, the saiyan powered up, using the immense amount of ki gained from Ayumu to make him stronger.

"YOU HAVEN'T WON YET!"

Okara returned Shorts's punch with one of his own, knocking the ascended super saiyan down. He then kicked him in the stomach, making distance between him and his opponent. Okara, out of desperation, then began firing a barrage of ki blasts at Shorts, not unlike the barrage he unleashed on Ayumu. If he was going to get eliminated, he was going to go out with a bang.

Shorts came flying out of the barrage with a thin layer of ki around him. He had formed a barrier, while also dodging most of Okara's blasts, and was coming straight for the saiyan. Once he was close, Shorts attempted to punch Okara again, but he knew what was going to happen. Okara backed up just enough to avoid the punch for a millisecond, and then suddenly, a giant wooden spike came out of the ground between the two, taking the entire impact of Shorts's fist. Once the wood was shattered, Okara lept forwards, hitting Shorts and sending him flying once again.

"Ouch! Using your plant manipulation as a shield… That's not bad," stated the electrified super saiyan.

Okara spit out a wad of blood. "In time, you'll find out that I'm much more than just 'not bad.'"

Shorts lunged forwards as Okara grew dozens of spikes out of the ground, trying to halt his competitor. It didn't work; Shorts simply broke through all of them with his sheer power. They both clashed once more. This time, it was more even, but it was still clear who was winning. Shorts still had a great advantage over Okara, ending his combo with a big roundhouse-kick to the saiyan's face. This knocked the saiyan back, as Okara performed a multitude of cartwheels to gain some distance. Very quickly, Okara charged up his signature move, forming a big ki orb in his hands and firing it once done charging.

" _ **BOREAN BLAST!**_ "

Shorts, seeing the large beam coming his way, took a deep breath. He raised his arms forward, got ready, and caught the beam. For a while, it looked like Shorts was only stalemating the blast, not moving an inch, forwards nor backwards. But then, in a quick motion, he lifted the beam over his head and sent it flying into the force-field.

 _Wow… he could throw away my Borean Blast when I'm in my super saiyan state as if it were nothing…_ Okara, throughout the entire fight wondered how Shorts was capable of such strength. However, in this moment, he realized something. _Wait a minute. His face… his expression, and his power level… It reminds me of what I've heard about…_

 _Could he be_ _ **his**_ _descendant?_

But he couldn't focus on those thoughts now. He had a fight to win.

They rushed at each other once again. At this point, Okara was out of options. He didn't have any moves left that Shorts hadn't seen before, as it was painfully clear that none of his other moves would work on his opponent any longer. Right now, all Okara could do was to out-fight him. And that was no easy task.

The saiyan tried mixing up his fighting style, using a combination of his Borean style whenever he went on the defense and what he knew of the Crane style while on the offense. When that didn't work, he tried incorporating Gonkuro and Shorts's fighting style, even though he knew barely anything about theirs, and even that didn't work. Okara ran out of options a long time ago, but he didn't want to give up. He kept on fighting, bearing the blows Shorts dealt.

Okara got beaten up very badly. He never broke out of the scuffle they were engaged in, so they were trading blows unevenly, and yet, the saiyan persisted. Shorts's power was too overwhelming; Okara was now well above Ayumu at his best in terms of power, but even that didn't hold a candle to Shorts as a Super Saiyan 2.

However, Shorts noticed Okara's efforts. He realized how badly beaten up Okara was getting, and so he backed off, ending his barrage and flying backwards. Okara stood there, wondering what even happened.

"What… did you do… that for?" Okara said, huffing.

"…Can I ask you why? You know you're going to lose, yet you're still fighting me with your fists. Even Tyriko, who also knew he was going to lose, launched one final blast at me; but you're different. You're taking unnecessary punishment for no reason."

"There… is a reason," stated Okara, who was covered in bruises. "I… I have to meet my people! I have to meet the saiyans, no matter what stands in my way! That means if I have to beat you to get to them, I'll sure as hell do it!"

Shorts looked stunned. "…You do realize that you don't have to win the Tournament of Champions to meet the saiyans, right?"

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Me and Gonkuro never said you had to win. We just wanted you to participate, to gauge your power and your motives. Technically, the rules were that we'd decide whether you were eligible to meet your people."

Okara looked down at the ground in shock. _All this time… I was led to believe that I had to win, when I just had to be here? That's it?!_

He looked back up at Shorts. "So, do you allow me to meet them?"

"I don't see a reason why you shouldn't," said Shorts with a smile. "We were just trying to figure out if you were a threat, and based on how you had achieved super saiyan while back… I think you'll be just fine."

They were both silent for a brief moment.

"Wait… one more thing, before this fight finishes."

"What is it?" asked Shorts.

"Are you… somehow related to _Prince Vegeta_?

Shorts was once again astonished. "How… how did you know?"

Okara, finally figuring it out, had his face turn from being serious to solemn, and a little more gloomy than it usually was. "Just a lucky guess, based on your looks." The saiyan wasn't too happy with the confirmation of his theory. "I guess… I guess I'm okay with losing, now, to the direct descendant of the Saiyan Prince."

"Good," said Shorts. "You don't have to keep punishing yourself anymore. Feel free to forfeit."

Okara thought about it strategically, thinking how conserving his energy would be optimal for the future, but he just couldn't bring himself to lose on purpose.

"No… no, I can't. My saiyan pride won't allow me to quit. I change my mind… I'll fight, till the bitter end!"

Shorts quickly took on a look of concern. "Alright. You asked for this."

 _Okara doesn't know what he's getting himself into,_ thought Shorts. _Alright. I'll make it easy for him. I'll concentrate a large portion of my ki into my fist, ending the fight in one punch._

 _This is it!_ said Okara in his head. _I'll beat him, here and now, with this one attack! I'm going to focus my energy into this one punch, catch him by surprise, and finish the fight._

Both the warriors charged up their fists, ready to attack.

Then at the same time, they charged with all they had at each other, yelling. Their fists both extended forwards, and they both realized that they had the exact same plan.

 _ **POW!**_

In that one instant, the winner was decided. Only one of the warrior's fist connected, while the other was just inches away from hitting its target.

It was Shorts. He hit Okara in the face, catapulting him horizontally out of the arena at last. The Super Saiyan 2 powered down back to his blue hair and sighed.

" _WOAH! DUE TO OKARA GETTING PUSHED OUT OF BOUNDS, WE HAVE OURSELVES A NEW OFFICIAL CHAMPION!_ "

" _ **SHORTS IS THE NEW DEFENDER OF EARTH!**_ "

The crowd erupted with cheer and elation. Shorts, however, didn't pay attention to this. He quickly ran over to the edge of the arena and out of the force-field, picking up the brown bag filled with beans. He then went over to his unconscious opponent and fed him one. As Shorts forced tilted Okara's head so that he would swallow it, the saiyan's eyes suddenly shot open.

"What… what the hell happened?"

"I punched you before you punched me," replied Shorts politely. "I guess we had the same plan. I just happened to hit you before you could reach me."

Okara looked around, seeing the audience's cheers and finally acknowledged Shorts's victory. It was clear to him now. The saiyan, however, was disappointed; not in his loss, but in something else that had bothered him during the second half of his fight.

As Shorts helped Okara up, the saiyan looked at Shorts with a stern face. "You're… really powerful."

Shorts scoffed. "I thought I already made that clear…"

"No," Okara stated abruptly. "That's not what I meant. You have a lot of power… yet you choose to waste it on trivial activities instead of focusing on supporting your saiyan race? You have royal blood, don't you? I expected you to do much more than just this."

Shorts shrugged patiently. "I… I guess I just don't really identify with saiyans. I'm like Gonkuro, kind of; I don't consider myself a real saiyan, you know?"

Okara glared at Shorts grimly and shook his head. "You have royal blood. That's no excuse."

Suddenly, before Shorts could respond, Gonkuro came out of nowhere, tackling Shorts in a big, affectionate hug.

"CONGRATS! YOU DID SO WELL!" he cheered on, still on top of his partner.

"Stop!" Shorts exclaimed with a smile. "God, you're embarrassing! We're in public!" At this point, Okara was looking to the side, feeling awkward to even be near the two.

Gonkuro then lifted Shorts over his shoulders, carrying his friend on top of him. "LONG LIVE THE NEW CHAMPION! HOO-RAH!" he yelled. Shorts couldn't control his laughter.

Then, the announcer came back on. " _Ahem! Shorts, please return to the center of the arena! You still have to talk with Dende about your new duties as the_ _ **DEFENDER OF THE PEOPLE**_ _! Get going!"_

"OH!" said Gonkuro, realizing Shorts's job wasn't finished. He put him down on the ground, and Shorts dusted himself off.

"Alrighty, then… Guess you better get going, Champion of Earth."

"Yeah…"

After having this short exchange, they both looked to the side as well, blushing. Shorts then began to run to the middle of the arena, saying, "I'll see you in a bit!" as he went.

Gonkuro looked on in silence. However, after Okara had realized Shorts had left, he called out to Gonkuro, "Hey!"

Gonkuro turned around. "What?"

"I assume you've finally let me visit my people now?"

"Yeah, sure, I guess. Go ahead."

Okara nodded and then turned around. However, before taking off, he addressed Gonkuro once more.

"One last thing," said Okara. "…When are we going to fight?"

Gonkuro raised his eyebrow. "We're still doing that?" he asked, as if he thought Okara would've been scared enough to back off after he saw what he was capable of.

"Yes."

"Hmm… Let's see…" Gonkuro rubbed his chin, deep in thought. Then, he popped back up, coming up with an idea. "Alright! How about tomorrow, at this time, right outside the main entrance of the tournament grounds? You know, the small forest right outside of here?"

Okara thought about the terms. At this moment, it was afternoon, the time being about 4 P.M. The saiyan tried to think of anything that would prohibit him from attending, but he couldn't think of anything.

"Okay. That sounds fine."

"Alright!" exclaimed Gonkuro enthusiastically. "Then it's settled!"

Okara nodded. He turned back around and powered up, ready to fly off.

"You better not quit at the last moment," stated Okara as he began to go. "I can tell… you're afraid of what I can do."

"Uh, I think you've got it the wrong way, buddy!" shouted Gonkuro as the saiyan flew away, ending the conversation.

Okara was now excited. Not only did he have the fight with his rival to expect, he was also about to meet his race for the first time…

 _Hm. That's kind of strange,_ Okara thought as he flew. _My pod taught me that the saiyans were a race of strong, brutal warriors that conquered every planet they encountered. So… how in the world is this planet not conquered? How are they living peacefully with the earthlings here?_

 _Did they all get converted to the side of good because of the earthlings here? No, that can't be the case… And what about their tails?! Holy shit, what about their tails?!_ Okara just had an epiphany. _When I saw Kyuuri and the other two saiyans, they didn't have tails! I didn't pay attention at the time, but now, looking back at it, none of them had tails… And Kyuuri, while a little bit bitter, seemed peaceful enou-_

"Saiyan warrior! Wait!"

 _Well, speak of the devil._

Okara turned around and saw a semi-healed Kyuuri flying towards him.

"You! You… you just arrived on Earth two weeks ago, right?" asked Kyuuri frantically.

"Yes, that's right. What do you want?"

"I want to know how _you_ made it to the finals of the tournament!" shouted Kyuuri. "You haven't even been raised in any of the saiyan villages, and yet, you had the power to get to fight Shorts?!"

Okara was confused for a moment, but then realized something. "You… Were you not watching the tournament after you were eliminated?"

"…No? I was in a healing chamber, recovering from my wounds. Is there something I missed?"

Okara closed his eyes. "Yes. There was." His power suddenly spiked up, and his hair became a bright, vibrant shade of yellow. He had turned into his super saiyan state, right in front of Kyuuri.

The earth-bound saiyan was astonished. He could barely talk. "Wh-What?! How in the world… How the hell did you achieve that form?!"

Okara looked very disappointed. "…Have none of the saiyans on Earth achieved this form?"

"No! No one has gotten even close! Your power… it's incredible! It's… it's…."

Kyuuri's expression rapidly changed from a face of bewilderment to one of sadness. "It's even greater than… my own."

Okara kept his power level constant and his face stern. "Is that a problem?"

A brief period of silence transpired, with Kyuuri looking down at Earth's surface. They both hovered in the air, motionless. Then, Kyuuri spoke.

"I… I am no longer the strongest saiyan," stated Kyuuri solemnly. "Your power far surpasses mine. I am not longer fit to be called the Hope of the North."

Okara was confused. "What in the world do you mean?"

Kyuuri looked up at the Super Saiyan. "Do you know where the Northern Saiyan Village is?" he asked.

Okara already knew. During the passing two weeks before the tournament, he had memorized the locations of where his race was. There were the Northern, Western, and Eastern Saiyan villages, and the saiyan knew where each one was located. "Yes, I know."

"Go there. Go there and tell my people that… that I have resigned my title, and that I have passed it on to you. You will be the new Hope of the North. Until I have reached your level of power, I am no warrior. I have… I have ashamed my people."

As Kyuuri slowly flew away in a depressed manner, Okara realized the gravity of his situation. "Wait," he called out. "Are you sure about this?"

The other saiyan didn't turn back. "Completely," he said as he left.

o – o – o – o – o

It had taken quite a while, but he made it. Okara could see the Northern Saiyan Village as he made his way across the sky. He was not anxious, scared, or worried anymore. Shiza told Okara that his race was lost and that he had to be there to guide them right before he left to go to Earth, so he wasn't completely surprised. The saiyan was confused on what Shiza meant by "guide", but he didn't worry about that either. Whatever came his way, he was going to overcome it and complete his mission. He had to, no matter what.

Okara came to the entrance. The entire village was surrounded with a crude, jagged wooden fencing. The entrance was one big gate, guarded by two other saiyan warriors. They didn't have a high power level and they didn't have their tails.

"Halt!" shouted one of the guards, putting his palm in front of him. "We know who you are, Okara. We have heard much about you, but what business do you have with the North?"

Yet again, Okara was disappointed with what he saw. But, he wasn't sad; he was actually quite excited. These two were the first saiyans he saw that were outside of the tournament.

"I come bearing news from Kyuuri himself," he stated firmly. "Bring me to your leader."

"If you were sent by Kyuuri, then you are welcome to enter. However, our leader is not present. We do not have a traditional political system, where one would rule. The strongest has the most influence here, and our strongest, Kyuuri, is not present. If you have a message, come inside and relay it to the entire village."

Okara was surprised by this fact, but he followed the guard's directions. They followed him as he proceeded to walk throughout the village. Every saiyan he walked by stared at him, murmuring and whispering to each other. All Okara could make out were the words "foreigner," "threat," and "alien." He wasn't particularly surprised at his reception.

Once he got to the center of the village, which was marked by the presence of a water well, he got on top of the well and began to wait as a crowd of saiyans began to form around him.

Once a majority of the village had gathered, he spoke. "Listen, everyone. Kyuuri has given up his position as the Hope of the Northern Village, and has generously given me that title." A number of gasps was heard throughout the crowd.

"I know that may be difficult to take in, but please understand, that is what Kyuuri intended for all of you to hear. He told me to deliver this message to you all."

"What the fuck makes you think you can just claim to be the new Hope, asshole?!" yelled out one of the saiyans. An uproar of agreement began to spread through the crowd, but Okara knew how to convince the village.

Like he did for Kyuuri, he quickly became a super saiyan, with his yellow ki being felt all over the village. The criticisms of his new role suddenly screeched to a halt. As quickly as the criticisms spread, a number of apologies were heard. Their entire village was based on the strength of an individual, and so being a super saiyan immediately placed Okara at the top.

"However… I do need to ask something from you all," Okara stated. He had a plan in mind; he was going to kill two birds with one stone. His questions about the current state of the saiyan race had to wait, at least for now. He had a fight to worry about.

"I need to get even stronger, and fast. In order to help the saiyan race return to its former power, I need to increase my power. Tomorrow, I will be fighting Gonkuro, one of Earth's strongest warriors. Now, I know and I think you all know as well that Gonkuro is too strong for any of us to handle. However, if I increase my power, even a little, before the fight tomorrow, I'll be able to give him a much better fight, and at the same time, make him acknowledge the potential power of our race. If I hurt him at least a little, I'll be able to increase our reputation exponentially. If anyone is able to help me gain more power, it would be a step towards our empowerment!" Okara didn't want to use the saiyans for his own benefit, but he knew it would also benefit them. He was being truthful.

One elderly saiyan warrior stepped up to the front of the crowd. "No one here can help you, Okara."

Okara was shocked. "What?! How come?"

"None of us have ever trained," stated the saiyan. "We have relied on our Zenkai Boosts and innate power for all of history. We now have learned that training would greatly help us in our pursuit of power, however, we have no experience in this method of powering up. Therefore, we cannot help you."

The new Hope was getting desperate. "Well… do you know anyone that can help me? Anyone or anywhere I can go to get stronger?"

The old saiyan thought for a little bit. As he tried to think about Okara's options, he noticed the Hope's horrible damaged and outdated armor.

"First of all, before you even think about approaching a master, you need to get a new set of saiyan armor from us. Your current clothes are filthy, and damaged; you'll never get a mentor looking like _that_."

Okara looked himself over. The man was right. Almost all of his body armor above his torso had broken off. He hadn't received a change of clothes ever since he had originally left the destroyed Planet Vegeta; and not only that, but he smelled horrible. So, Okara took the man's advice into account. "Okay. We can get that settled quickly. However, after I do that, where shall I go?"

"Ah, yes, of course. I am the eldest of all the saiyans, so I know the most of the outside world; however, I can barely think of even one master that will help you."

"Luckily, I have thought of _one._ There is only _one_ that might of accept you as their pupil."

"Who?! Who is it?!" Okara asked frantically.

"Tell me, young one," said the old saiyan. "At the Tournament of Champions, you have been acquainted with the young warrior known as Izumi, yes?"

"Yes, that is correct!"

"Have you two become allies?"

"More or less."

"I thought so," said the man, smiling. "That girl will make friends with anyone, even an intimidating alien like you. Even so…"

"You have to meet her again. She trains in a dojo hidden in the hills southwest of this very place. It is located near a large forest, and is right next to a very small village, much smaller than this one."

"It is called the _Crane Dojo_. There, you must politely knock on their doors and ask for Izumi. Izumi is the key to all of this. Once she knows you have come, she will beg her master to accept you as a student. If you are a friend of hers, she will want you to train with her."

"Yes, I understand, but… please do remind me… who is this master? Are you sure he is as capable as you make him out to be?"

The elderly saiyan smiled. "He is Tien Shinhan, _The Crane Hermit_. And I assure you, he is quite capable."

o – o – o – o – o

 _The Tournament of Champions has concluded! Shorts has won the title of the new and official Champion and Defender of Earth!_

 _Okara, on the other hand, has won his own title: The Hope of the Northern Village! However, the new saiyan still has a lot to learn, and has one more fight to finish: a fateful duel with Gonkuro himself!_

 _How will Okara hope to stand a chance against Gonkuro?_

 _Who is Tien Shinhan? Will he be knowledgeable and strong enough to satisfy Okara's needs?_

 _Will Okara even be accepted into the Crane Dojo?_

 _Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter of Dragon Ball Newcomers!_

o – o – o – o - o

 **Author's Note:** Hey! Just a quick update; I've got a few things I want to say.

Since the Tournament Arc has ended, I'm probably going to make a poll soon about who's the most popular character currently. This is mainly because I'm curious about your opinions, and also I want to kind of gauge who actually reads till the end. Expect it to be made tomorrow.

Also, I've been wondering if you guys were okay with the new cover. Do you guys prefer the old one or the new one? I like the new one better, but I think it's much harder to see compared to the old one. I made it myself, but its really hard to make out what's going on in it.

Finally, I just wanted to encourage whoever's reading to write more reviews. I want to improve this as much as I can, because I'm planning for DBN to be a long term thing. Reviews about certain stuff you liked/disliked would really help.

Thanks!


	12. 8: Meeting the Three-Eyed Master

Okara glided over the luscious green land underneath him. The saiyan was now equipped and ready for whatever challenge this "Crane Hermit" had to offer him. He had just put on a new set of what the northerners called, "up-to-date, modern saiyan armor." Okara scoffed when he had heard that; he didn't see anything wrong with the old version.

However, he had to admit, this felt much more comfortable than his previous armor. Although, that was probably due to how his old one was almost completely broken and covered in moss…

He pulled out the map that Gonkuro had given him all the way back when he had first arrived on Earth. The saiyans of the northern village had marked where it was located: it was connected to a small rural farming village on top of a hill range, which was west to Central City and northwest to Parsley City. _The saiyans sure do know their way around this planet…_ thought Okara.

 _The saiyans… what the hell's wrong with the saiyans?! They're supposed to be a strong, proud, warrior race, yet… they seemed so docile! And, not only that, but none of them had tails! Why would they remove them…? I know that we turn into uncontrollable beasts when seeing a full moon, but… can't they just_ _ **not**_ _look at the moon?! That's what I did to avoid transforming on Borea… yet… perhaps they just wanted to prevent any rogue saiyans from changing…_

Okara was so lost in thought, that he had almost forgotten where he wanted to go to. He quickly snapped out of his inner contemplation and saw that he had already arrived. He was hovering right above the dojo.

He flew straight down, and landed right in front of the dojo's brown double doors. It seemed quite quaint; it was much smaller-looking than Okara was expecting.

The saiyan took a deep breath. He was about to meet an earthling that his race respected; he had to be as polite as possible. Okara knew his reputation on Earth, and it wasn't a good one. Whoever he would encounter on the other side of the door, he had to be as good as possible to them. This encounter could potentially decide whether he would or wouldn't get to train here.

After taking a moment to brace himself, Okara knocked on the door. Then, after a couple of moments, the door opened.

"Hello- OH MY GOD!"

It was an old lady that met him. She seemed to be middle aged, as her hair was beginning to turn from black to completely gray, and she had wrinkles. The lady, however, seemed to be trying to cover wrinkles with make-up, being completely covered in it. Her hair was very strange: it formed two ribbon-like loops over her head, and while also having large wisps that covered her ears. Like Izumi, she wore a dark, green gi and a binder; however, the lower half of the gi looked more like a skirt than battle clothing, going all the way down to her legs. Other than that, she had a yellow cloth tied around her waist and she wore black boots. When she saw Okara, she fell to the ground.

"Y-Y-You're that saiyan that came to Earth two weeks ago!" she said with fear. Okara took another deep breath and forced a polite smile as she cowered on the floor.

"Greetings there… uhm… ma'am!" he said as he slowly approached her. "I've heard that-"

As he took steps closer to her, she looked more frightened. After standing up, she proceeded to make a sign with her hands. "H-HEY! DON'T YOU TOUCH ME! I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW, I'M A POWERFUL WITCH!"

"Uh… My… intention was not to harm you-"

"I've heard talk about you saiyans! You're all the touchy-type, wanting to get your hands on young, beautiful women like me! WELL, YOU'VE GOT ANOTHER THING COMING!"

Okara was baffled. "What?! I'm not going to-"

"EAT THIS, ASSHOLE! _**Honjiru Monjiru… Genjiru Gonjiru!**_ "

"Look, I just want to-"

Before he could say anything, he realized that his arm was moving on its own. Oddly, it had a purple aura around it. Not only that, but the lady had a purple aura around her as well, as she held up the hand sign and repeated her spell. His hand raised itself, forming a fist, as it lunged itself towards his own face. The saiyan looked like a fool as he repeatedly hit himself.

Okara was getting very frustrated. He suddenly powered up to super saiyan, and the aura around his fist immediately dissipated. This knocked the old lady back once more.

"EEK! YOU CAN TURN SUPER?!"

"Just… listen! I might be a saiyan, but I am _not_ a pervert! I'm a friend of Izumi's, and I was going to ask if you could take me to her!" he explained.

"What…? You… don't want to touch me?"

" _NO_!"

"Ah… Well, you could have started off with that!" she said grumpily as she got up and dusted herself off. "I apologize for using one of my spells on you, but that was second-nature. You acted very intimidating." Okara grumbled in response.

"Let's have a fresh start, shall we? My name is Yurin, nice to meet you." the old lady stuck out her hand.

"…Okara," he muttered as he reluctantly shook it.

"You said you wanted to see Izumi, correct? If so, follow me."

She then turned around and began walking, so Okara followed suit. They walked through an outdoor hallway that had railings on both sides. Beyond the railings was a luscious green garden full of shrubs, bushes, and small trees, where a few bald students with green ki were seen relaxing. She hummed a tune as she went.

However, as they both traveled through the hallway, Okara could hear and feel two people fighting, one of which was definitely Izumi. When Yurin felt it, she immediately stopped humming and sighed.

As they both approached the entrance, the saiyan was surprised at what he saw. It was a massive open doorway that led directly to what seemed like a medium-sized fighting area. It was very similar to the Tournament's arena, except it was a bit smaller. Around it was an area of grass that covered each side, and around that was a big, rectangle-sized one-story complex that surrounded both the grass and the arena on each side. It looked like what a proper martial arts school would look like, complete with many rooms and a fighting area in the middle. Beyond the arena was a small pagoda, a Chinese-style two-storied building, that towered over the fighting area.

They both entered the dojo. Immediately, the two were surrounded by a massive crowd of bald-headed warriors wearing a green gi that were standing on the grass, on the outside of the arena. Their clothes were all like Yurin's, but different than Izumi's in that they had a symbol on their gi, while Izumi's didn't, and their belts were tan-colored, while Izumi's was red. They all seemed to be watching something, as the crowd formed a circle around what Okara sensed as Izumi and someone else sparring.

"I apologize for this inconvenience…" stated Yurin. "If you would like, I can call Master T-"

"Thank you, but there's no need," replied Okara. "I'll be just fine."

Yurin looked annoyed. "Fine. Suit yourself. But you won't get anywhere by just standing around rubbing your nose in the students' businesses." Okara nodded.

"Hmph!" Yurin exclaimed as she stormed off, muttering something about how rude her new guest was being. Okara didn't mind, though; he was much more focused on the fight.

The saiyan pushed his way to the front of the crowd. This task wasn't hard; whenever he moved in front of someone, they would immediately recognize him and back away in fear. As he got closer to the front, more and more people began to focus less on the fight and more on him, whispering to each other in order to make sure he was who they thought he was. Again, Okara didn't care too much about the others. He knew that all he had to do was speak to Izumi.

As Okara came to the very front, he saw what he had previously sensed. On one side of the arena was a young man wearing the same gi that everyone else wore. He was also bald, and had small eyes, a round, wide nose, and big, thick eyebrows. The boy was pretty tall for his age, being around Okara's height, as he seemed to be as old, if not a little older, than Izumi herself. This warrior looked very frustrated, as he shot a barrage of what Okara recognized as Dodon Rays out of both of his fingers. He was profusely sweating, and it was obvious he was using more ki than he could afford.

The person who he was trying to shoot at was Izumi. She was laughing, dodging each blast he shot with ease. Okara even thought he saw Izumi making funny faces at her opponent, pulling her mouth wide open and sticking out her tongue.

"C'mon Akimasa!" Izumi said while laughing. "You're gonna have to try a lot harder than that if ya wanna' hit me!"

Akimasa stopped firing finger-blasts and grumbled in frustration. "Argh…! I'll show you!" He began to charge at her using the crane style of fighting. "You're going to take me seriously from now on!"

Then, in mere seconds, Izumi easily knocked Akimasa out. He laid on the floor in a curled-up position while Izumi stood up proudly, raising her fist into the air. "Yay! I win again!" While Yurin frantically began to pick Akimasa up over her shoulder to carry him out, no one seemed to cheer for her, and so she noticed this. She looked around in confusion.

"Huh? What's wrong guys?"

And then Izumi spotted her saiyan friend. Once this happened, her eyes widened as a big smile instantly formed on her face. "HEY! OKARA!"

"Hello. It's nice to see you again. But listen… I need to- ACK!"

In a miniscule amount of time, Izumi had sprung onto Okara, her arms wrapping around him like a blanket. "WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?! OH MY GOD, WE HAVE SO MUCH TO TALK ABOUT! YOU DID SO WELL IN THE TOURNAMENT, AND ESPECIALLY AGAINST SHORTS! WHAT WERE THOSE INVISIBLE ATTACKS YOU WERE USING AGAINST HIM?! CAN YOU TEACH ME HOW TO DO THAT?! IT LOOKED SO COOL ON T.V, IT WAS LIKE-"

"Please- Could you get off of me?!" The saiyan looked incredibly flustered. He was horrible at dealing with emotions.

"Uh… Yeah, okay!" Izumi said happily as she hopped back on the floor. Okara sighed as he dusted himself off. "Look… I need to ask you for a favor."

Izumi was inquisitive. "…And that favor is?"

"Could I train with you and your master?"

The girl blinked a couple times, and then gasped. She put both her hands on her mouth. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH! UH, YEAH! I THOUGHT YOU WOULD'VE BEEN RELUCTANT TO THAT IDEA… I MEAN, YOU HAVEN'T EVEN MET MY MASTER YET… BUT THAT DOESN'T MATTER! OF COURSE YOU CAN, YA BIG DUMMY!"

"Great," Okara stated. A brief period of silence occurred, as Izumi was still awestruck about what had just happened.

"Uh…" said Okara, breaking the silence. "Are you going to introduce me to…"

"Oh yeah, introduce ya to Tien, of course!" Izumi said hitting herself on the head. She looked behind her to where the pagoda was and cupped her hands around her mouth.

"HEY TIEN! GET YOUR LAZY-ASS OUT HERE, RIGHT NOW! YOU HAVE A NEW STUDENT!"

Izumi's voice boomed. It was incredibly loud, and Okara was stunned at how rude she was to her own master. He looked at her with disbelief. Izumi turned around, seeing Okara's face, and realized what he had just reacted to.

"Oh, sorry 'bout that! It's just a thing I picked up from Ma that always gets my master up! No worries!" she said, trying to explain herself.

"…Who's Ma?" asked Okara.

Izumi looked surprised. She began to blush as she rubbed the back of her head. "Oh, did I say 'Ma'? I actually meant to say-"

"Wait!" said Okara. "I feel a large ki coming near… Is that… him?"

"Oh! Yeah, that's him alright!" Izumi responded.

 _That's not possible!_ Okara thought to himself. _An earthling with this much power… it's absurd! He's at least 20 times as powerful as Izumi! And I thought she was the most powerful earthling… he beats her by a landslide! Who exactly is he?!_

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Okara made out a figure that stood on the pagoda's rooftop. This figure seemed to be looking right at him. Then, this frame leaped up incredibly high into the air, and landed right behind a section of the large crowd. As he came closer to the front, the warriors that made up the crowd quickly moved themselves away from him, automatically forming a pathway.

"So you are the saiyan that is known as Okara, I assume?" the figure asked. "Izumi has spoken much about you and your unorthodox techniques."

"Y-Yes, you're right. Are you…"

The man reached the front of the crowd and walked up the stairs and onto the arena, directly across from where Izumi and Okara were standing.

"Greetings. It is a pleasure to meet you. I am the warrior known as Tien Shinhan."

Tien was bald, like every other student at the dojo. He looked very old, with wrinkles all over his face. He had a thin, long, droopy mustache that had pointed ends, and a long beard that covered his chin that connected to his mustache, forming a goatee. Both his eyebrows and goatee had grayed. Tien also wore a traditional Chinese garment: it was a grey-black color in the middle, covering a layer of a light-tan colored material underneath. This grey middle covered everything but his arms, which were covered in the tan material. The middle had a red outline, and his sleeves were long and white. Below his top, he wore a white cloth around his waist that acted as a belt. Below that, he wore a dark-red Changshan, or male dress that went down to his ankles. Below the Changshan, the same tan material that covered his arms covered his legs. He also wore gray boots, tied to his legs with a red ribbon. On the gray middle of his garment, he had the red symbol in the middle that every other student at the dojo had. It read "Ten," meaning "sky" or "heaven" in mandarin. What was odd about him, however, was his face; he had three eyes. The old master put his hands together, with one hand formed into a fist shape and the other in a slanted, flat shape that blocked the fist, making a Chinese gesture for respect. Tien then bowed to his guest. Okara, wanting to be as respectful as possible, did the same.

Tien then stood back up. "If you do not mind me asking, but why have you come to my dojo?"

"I… want to become stronger," said the saiyan as he stood back up as well. "The saiyans in the northern village recommended you. I was hoping I would be able to train under you, if it isn't too much to ask."

Tien looked surprised. "Excuse me…? You really… want to be my student?"

"Yes."

Silence filled the area as Okara waited for Tien to respond with an answer. Izumi was getting impatient.

"Oh, C'mon Tien! Just say yes already! Okara and I are like… already best friends! Right, Okara?" She looked at the saiyan directly.

"Uh… Yeah, sure," he responded.

Tien looked Okara over, from head to toe. "I… am not sure. I apologize, but… I do not think I will be able to accept a saiyan. I am wholeheartedly sorry. You may temporarily stay for a while, but otherwise-"

"HEY! Are you really not acceptin' him _just_ because he's a saiyan?! That's messed up, ain't it?!"

"Yes, but…"

Tien was badly shaken, and obviously so. He was sweating all over and having a hard time speaking. Okara took note of this.

"Please. I'll do anything to prove to you that I am worthy of your tutelage," said Okara. He was very desperate.

Tien took a moment to think it over.

"Just do it already!" protested Izumi.

"Hush, girl!" exclaimed the three-eyed sage. He was rubbing his chin and looking at Okara over and over again in deep thought. Finally, he spoke.

"Alright. I have made up my mind," stated Tien. "Before I decide if I will train you or not… I want to see you in battle with my own eyes."

The old man then leapt upwards and landed on a roof of one of the small one-story buildings that surrounded the arena. Tien then shouted, "Izumi! Come up here with me."

"Gotcha." The sixteen-year old followed her master's instructions. "What's gonna happen?" she asked. Okara seemed to wonder the same thing.

"It will be fine, Izumi," Tien said reassuringly. Then, he looked down to the arena, at all his students and Okara.

"Listen, everyone!" Tien shouted. "On my word, I want you all to attack the saiyan. Okara, I wish for you to fight them as well. Whenever I tell you all to stop fighting, you stop fighting. Is that clear?"

The bald-headed warriors that stood on the grass were all extremely hesitant. They all began looking at each other, and then at Okara in fear. Only a few voices were heard agreeing to the terms.

Tien made his voice louder. "I said, is that clear?!"

Then, all at once, the entirety of the crowd responded with a resounding "Yes, Master Tien Shinhan!" They began walking onto the stage, surrounding Okara on all sides. Tien then directed his eyes at the saiyan.

"Okara… are you okay with this?" asked the Crane Hermit.

Okara nodded. "Yes." He got into his usual fighting stance with his arms tucked in.

Tien then switched his gaze to the entire arena. "Then… you all may proceed!"

Immediately, every fighter that was a part of the crowd began firing ki at the saiyan. They all spread out, making the crowd more akin to a line. Those that didn't fit into the line flew up high, into the air, and also participated in firing ki at the newcomer. The arena was filled with Dodon Rays, small ki blasts, and other attacks that were all directed at Okara. However, Okara didn't seem to bothered by these weak attacks. He simply used his Borean stance to stay still as he easily absorbed all the ki that came at him. He built it up, getting stronger and stronger.

Izumi, seeing the massive difference in power between her peers and Okara, turned around and began yelling at her master. "Tien?! What the hell are ya doing?! You're gonna get everyone killed! They don't stand a chance against Okara!"

Tien simply looked on, watching the fight. "You do not understand, Izumi. This was never meant to be a battle. It is meant to be a test." The girl stopped yelling and instead looked confused. "Wha?"

"Just understand that, if it gets too violent, I will end the fight. There is no need to worry."

Izumi still seemed a bit troubled. "Okay, I guess…"

As Okara kept on getting bombarded with ki attacks, they began to actually hurt him. He could feel them as bruises began to form underneath his new armor. This was when the saiyan decided that he had enough absorbed ki. Instead of staying still, he switched his strategy: he began dodging all the attacks with ease, flying through the air just as Izumi did as she was fighting Akimasa. The students soon realized what was transpiring and slowly began to stop firing ki blasts.

Okara whizzed past his aggressors, taking them out one by one. It only took one hit from the saiyan to hurt them enough to where they were immobilized. However, Okara massively held back. The saiyan was still going in with the mindset of wanting to become Tien's student, so it was only natural that he hurt his students as little as possible, in order to win Tien's favor.

"Hm! Interesting," stated Tien Shinhan while spectating the fight.

However, it wasn't as easy as Okara had initially thought. After defeating around two-dozen fighters, it came to the point where they all had realized what Okara was actually doing, and so they all began to attack him as a group. Each fighter bravely rushed towards Okara, using their knowledge on the Crane style to avoid as many attacks as they could while outputting substantial damage.

To their surprise, even this strategy didn't work too well. The style of fighting that they knew was about dodging and counter-attacking, but none of them were able to dodge Okara; he was just too fast. Their hand-to-hand techniques were actually more of a detriment to them than an advantage, as they used energy to dodge, which was pointless when facing their overwhelming foe. Okara knew this would happen from the very beginning, and so he took full advantage of this. Knowing they would try to dodge his initial attacks, he focused all of his energy on offense and speed while massively reducing his defense. His plan worked- before they knew it, he had defeated another four-dozen students!

Although, while his plan was very successful, the warriors began to catch wind of what was actually taking place. Once again, they immediately adapted and responded to their poor situation, just as they were taught. During the midst of battle, there was a sudden, noticeable shift in the amount of difficulty Okara faced. The students, acknowledging their current weaknesses, changed their style to be more aggressive, using their speed that they previously used on their dodging ability to make their attacks faster. This caused major problems for Okara, with the main one being that they began hitting his pressure points.

Okara tried backing away and getting out of the crowd for a brief period in order to get a short rest, but they persisted. The saiyan felt as if he were being stung by a large group of angry bees- individually, these attacks did not hurt, but he felt them throughout his entire body. With their advanced knowledge of pressure points, they attacked him in these areas, very shortly disabling his ability to use ki in those specific areas. While these buffers only lasted less than a millisecond, the saiyan was constantly attacked in those places, prolonging the effects. The students were actually gaining the upper-hand on an Okara who was holding back.

The saiyan tried changing tactics once more. He began making large pillars of wood shoot out of the arena floor, similar to how he fought during the previous Tournament. These pillars worked to great effect, hitting many of the fighters at once and knocking them back. Against one strong fighter, these pillars that sprung out of the ground wouldn't be very effective; however, against many weak fighters, it worked to a great degree of success. He gained a lot of distance from everyone else, maintaining that distance by pushing them away while also injuring them.

But, once again, they adapted. The remaining many, after processing what they were actually being attacked by, began to silently agree with each other. They started to work efficiently with one another and began to really gain ground on their saiyan adversary. They did this by forming into groups of two to four. These groups' fighters split up roles with one another; one half of the group would stay in the back, firing beams at where they would predict the wooden pillars would jump out at them. The other group would proceed towards their motionless foe, not caring about the pillars as they trusted their fellow peers to get rid of those obstacles. They did all of this while barely saying a word, and the fighters who rushed at Okara began getting close. Before he knew it, Okara was being surrounded with fighters once more, and was once again being pecked by many pressure point attacks at a time. Once the saiyan stopped using his ki to summon wooden pillars, the long-ranged attackers joined in on the hand-to-hand combat, and overwhelmed Okara even more.

 _This is getting ridiculous!_ thought Okara to himself. _They're all so weak, but their teamwork is impeccable…! I shouldn't be struggling, yet here I am…_

He thought about his options. He could just let them beat him until Tien stopped the fight, he could stop holding back and heavily injure a lot of Tien's students… or…

Okara came up with one last plan. He actually began to let all of the fighters attack him. The saiyan, like before, took his Borean fighting pose in which he left himself completely open. They all jumped on him, bruising his body all over. More and more came in to join as they began to realize he was incredibly open, and soon, all the fighters that were able to continue fighting were all over the saiyan, attacking him with everything they had.

This, however, was all part of Okara's plan. He was going to take them all out in one fell swoop.

While they spent their time attacking him, Okara was building up the kinetic energy gained from their attacks inside of him. Usually, pressure point attacks wouldn't give much energy at all, the fact that around a hundred of these attacks were hitting him every millisecond negated the previous statement. The saiyan gained a massive amount of kinetic energy, as there were just so many things hitting him at once, and he combined that ki with his own, and built it up higher and higher inside his body.

" _AAARRRGGGHHH!_ "

Finally, all at once, the ki he had built bursted. Using his ki dome technique that he had gained from the Boreans, he created a mini-explosion around himself that hit all of his aggressors. They all got blasted away, but they were not too injured as a result. Okara had made sure that the blast didn't cause too much damage using his skill in ki control, and so they all simply fell to the ground, unable to fight any longer with no permanent injuries or broken bones.

The saiyan had assumed he won, until someone else called him.

"You!"

Okara turned around to see Akimasa pointing at him while walking towards him slowly.

"What do you want?"

Akimasa put down his arm. "You haven't beaten the entire dojo yet. You still have me to face!" The boy then got into the Crane position. Okara looked stunned at either the stupidity or bravery of his new challenger and was completely silent.

Akimasa grinned. "Stunned by guts, huh? I'll have you know, I'm the second strongest fighter in this dojo! I've been training here for all of my life… so I will _not_ lose to a mere novice like you, whether you're a saiyan or not!"

Okara got ready to fight as the second-strongest student charged at him, ready to hit the saiyan's pressure points with his pointed fingers.

"Take this! HAAAAAAHHHH!"

And in mere seconds, Akimasa was once again knocked out on the floor, curled up into a familiar position of defeat. Yurin then frantically ran up onto the stage, picked up the unconscious student onto her shoulder, and took him inside once more.

At the end of the fight, Izumi looked away from the scene and instead at her teacher. Tien looked absolutely blown away by the fight. He seemed genuinely excited.

"Tien?" Izumi asked. "Did he pass…?"

Tien Shinhan looked down for a brief moment, thinking. Then he looked back at Izumi with a confident smile. "Not yet. Wait here, please." Izumi blinked. "Wait… what are you gonna do?"

The old man jumped off of the roof and onto the fighting stage where all the defeated students were laying. They all were groaning due to their minor injuries, but once Tien came onto the platform, they all became silent.

Okara noticed Tien standing across from him. "So, will I be training under you? Did I do what you wanted me to do?"

Tien smiled back. "Almost. I want to ask of you one, last request."

Okara was quick to speak, eager to take on any other challenges the sage had to offer. "Anything."

Tien closed his eyes. No sound came from either of the powerful warriors for a moment.

Once that was over, Tien's eyes shot back open.

"Your last task…"

"Is to defeat _me_."

o – o – o – o – o

 _Okara has finally arrived at the world-renown Crane Dojo! He has just met many new faces, those of which include Yurin the Witch and Akimasa, the self-proclaimed second-strongest in the dojo! Not only that, but our saiyan protagonist has reunited with Izumi, the teenage-girl with extraordinary power he met during the Tournament of Champions!_

 _However, most importantly, Okara has finally come face-to-face with Crane Hermit Tien Shinhan, the powerful, three-eyed teacher of Izumi! Completing his first task of defeating a large portion of the dojo, Okara goes on to face his next and possibly most difficult challenge: beating Tien Shinhan in a one-on-one fight!_

 _How will Okara fair against Tien? Will he win, or does he even stand a chance?_

 _What is the Crane Hermit's true power? What is he hiding?_

 _What will happen if Okara loses? Is it even guaranteed that he will become a student if he wins?!_

 _Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter of Dragon Ball Newcomers!_


	13. 9: The Half-Tree vs The Old Crane

"Your last task… is to defeat _me_." Tien then immediately went into his fighting stance. It was the crane stance, the exact same one Izumi had held. But, somehow… he looked much more elegant and refined while in it.

Okara was caught off guard by Tien's boldness. "Wait a minute. I do apologize, but I don't think I can, sir. I wouldn't want to hurt-"

"You did not let me finish, saiyan," stated the Crane Hermit. "Your last task is to defeat me, _if you can_. Does that change your mind?" he said with a smirk.

This made Okara's jaw drop; he quickly closed it, hiding his surprise, but it still left a lasting effect on the saiyan. He thought his situation over. On one hand, he didn't want to hurt or injure the old man at all, as he wants to be his student, and doing so could be considered as disrespectful… however, every one of his instincts is telling him to fight. The master was incredibly strong for his age, and Okara didn't even know what he was capable of… but there was one last, main reason why he needed to fight him.

It was his saiyan pride.

"…You're on. But don't blame me for what happens next," Okara said, powering up.

"I think you should worry about what happens to yourself first."

The saiyan, holding back about half of strength, charged at Tien in his base form. Just to test him, Okara threw a rapid fire of punches to his upper torso and facial areas. This attempt was fruitless; the old man easily blocked every single one of his attacks. This flurry continued for some time.

"If this is the best you have," stated Tien, looking a little bored. "Then I'm not impressed. Honestly, I expected more from you, saiyan."

"Oh yeah?! Try this on for size!" exclaimed Okara. He was getting really pumped up. Okara then began performing at one-hundred percent of his base form, not pulling any punches. His saiyan instincts were kicking in, taking over his reason and making him fight for real. Now, the saiyan's flurry was much faster and more efficient, as he used a variety of unpredictable punches and kicks. One of his attacks actually hit Tien square in the face, making the master step back a couple feet.

Okara took a breath and stopped advancing. "I told you, I'm not to be trifled with. This isn't even my full power. I suggest we stop this, now, for your health."

Tien looked back up, his eyes gleaming in the sunlight. "Hah… This is not mine, either." He took his crane stance yet again. "Did you realize that I was not fighting back?"

"Yeah. It was obvious you were suppressing your real strength, but even so… I don't think you've dealt with anyone like me."

"Oh, trust me… I have."

Okara sighed. He knew that this was his only chance to restrain his saiyan blood from taking this fight too far, however, he just couldn't help himself. His last chance at maintaining reason had slipped away.

He charged at Tien yet again, using the exact same power and technique before. Tien, however, responded differently. Instead of blocking these attacks, he dodged them. It was a sight to behold; the old man, contrary to his physique, looked incredibly swift and quick. His movements were so polished and refined that it looked as if he was performing a dance. It was very evident that Tien had perfectly mastered his fighting style.

And then he hit back. While simultaneously dodging Okara's attacks, Tien hit the saiyan with a flurry of his own, graceful, pressure point attacks. Again, it seemed as if the old man was dancing, but this time, it hurt the saiyan. A lot.

Tien was hitting Okara way too many times at such a fast rate, that the saiyan had to retreat in seconds. He was already panting heavily.

"What is wrong?" asked Tien. "Do you yield already?"

"Not yet!" shouted Okara in response. A spike of wood came out from the ground, right next to the old sage, as it headed straight for him. But, to Okara's surprise, with the elegance and grace of a crane, the old master dodged it, utilizing a superb backflip to evade the wooden attack.

"You were saying?"

Without Okara noticing, Tien seemed to disappear and reappear right behind the saiyan.

"It is over," the Crane Hermit stated. He chopped Okara directly on the back of his neck. Before the saiyan had even processed what had happened, he was falling to the ground. Tien seemed to have hit him in a unique pressure point, one that, with enough force put behind it, would knock him out. It looked as if the fight was over, until Okara's vision faded to black.

It had happened yet again.

 _Okara! Please! You have to wake up! I'm… I'm begging you!_

And then he saw the grey-faced figure.

 _ **You're next.**_

Okara immediately woke up. As he did, he caught himself inches away from hitting the ground, and kicked Tien away from him.

"What?!" exclaimed Tien Shinhan in shock. "I… I was sure that I hit his pressure point! This does not make any sense, how did he…?"

With a fierce scream, Okara powered up. His hair turned yellow and his power increased fifty-fold, returning back into his super-saiyan state.

"What the?!"

"Don't you DARE try to end the fight here! The battle hasn't even started!" yelled Okara in protest. He stood there dominantly, glaring his opponent down and waiting for him to make a move. Tien, however, just stared.

"Well? Don't you have anything to say?" asked Okara.

Tien suddenly snapped out of his trance, as if he had realized something. He then smiled while keeping a serious look on his face, and took his fighting stance.

"…Take your shot."

Okara yelled as he flew at lightning-speeds towards his experienced foe. The saiyan launched an impressively fast flurry of punches. It was clear that, this time, the old man was having trouble. While dodging like he did before, Tien still got hit by a majority of the attack. He was being pushed back, as Okara was just too quick. They began to clash all over the battle-arena, vanishing from one spot to the next at speeds the untrained eye could not have seen. It was however, clear who was beginning.

Okara, after finishing the scuffle by ending it with a large uppercut to Tien's jaw, sent the three-eyed master flying back. Tien swiftly changed his momentum with much grace, and positioned himself so that he landed on his feet gently.

All of a sudden, with a loud yell, Tien ripped off the top of his Chinese attire, revealing an unexpected, incredibly muscular body. He then began to spread out his arms horizontally, stretching them out as if he were about to catch something big.

"You seem to be giving it your all…" said the Crane Hermit, panting. "If so, then it is only fair that I do so as well!"

The saiyan knew what was coming. The old man's ki felt exactly the same as Izumi's when she used this technique, and Okara instantly recognized it. Instead of preparing to fight Tien head-on, however, the saiyan did something else. He began exerting someone else's ki outside of his body as he waited for his opponent to finish growing more limbs.

"THIS… IS THE _**FIST OF FOUR ARMS!**_ "

Another pair of arms suddenly sprouted from Tien's back. Okara was unfazed by this.

"That's not a bad technique," said Okara casually. "If I didn't already see Izumi perform it, I would be genuinely shocked. Now…let's see how those extra arms do against invisible attacks."

"What? Invisible att-"

Before Tien could finish his sentence, he was struck in the face by an invisible force, and was knocked backwards. He was struck again, but this time from behind, and then again and again. These invisible fists kept on hitting Okara's opponent over and over; Okara, however, was merely standing still.

 _This fight is over,_ thought Okara to himself. _Tien, although being very tough, is nowhere near Shorts's level of power. He won't be able to just power through these, and he won't be able to sense it either. Not only that, but through my fight with Shorts, I've actually gained some experience with this technique and improved on it, making these hits stronger than ever!_

Tien was frantically trying to do whatever he could to counter this mysterious assault. _I have got to think,_ Tien thought. _I know that these attacks are made out of ki, but I cannot sense them… yet they cannot be god ki either. Even with my four arms, I cannot block these unpredictable attacks. Damn… It seems as if I only have one option._

 _With these three eyes of mine… I will be able to see through these attacks!_

Okara, while watching Tien's struggle, was caught off guard by a change that had occurred with Tien's face. His eyes were beginning to glow white.

The Crane Hermit quickly began to accurately predict and block the attacks that were previously giving him trouble. While his eyes were glowing, it seemed as if he could actually see the invisible punches of ki. Using his four arms as a wall of defense, he began running towards the stationary Okara while countering his concealed assault.

"That's impossible!" exclaimed Okara. As Tien gained more ground on Okara, the saiyan began to feel more nervous. "Crap! Eat this!"

As the old sage was running up to the young saiyan, two pillars blocked his way by shooting out of the ground towards him. However, again, he dodged them with the finesse of a crane while also blocking all of Okara's invisible attacks. After he leapt past the wooden obstacles as if they were nothing, he proceeded to run up to his opponent with glowing, white eyes.

"Know this, Okara: nothing can get past my eyes!"

"Yeah, no shit!" yelled Okara in frustration as he released his flurry of invisible attacks. He then began retreating backwards to gain some distance on his elderly opponent.

"Now, you have no choice but to fight me head-on!" exclaimed Tien Shinhan.

They both clashed, yet again. This time, however, it was much more destructive. The two warriors' powers both caused the arena to crack and the other students to be blown back by their clashing ki's alone. It was much more even, however, it still held the same result. While not as much this time, Okara was still holding back and was still winning the exchange. _He must be joking. What will he obtain out of fighting me head-on again? The outcome should be clear!_ Okara told himself in his head.

This, however, was apparently not true. As if he had just realized that fighting the saiyan in a direct battle was a bad idea, he quickly changed up his attacks, intentionally launching Okara away with a strong kick and then subsequently shooting a barrage of Dodon Rays at him. Okara wasn't happy with the old warrior, however. The saiyan swatted the barrage away, and then quickly charged at the master after it was done.

"A rookie mistake! I thought better of you, old man!" said Okara, unimpressed. "You've just cornered yourself by doing something foolish. And I thought you were supposed to be wise! You've just realized that fighting me in hand-to-hand combat would result in you losing, and now are resorting to blasts, haven't you?" questioned Okara.

"Not exactly. I was relying on that… your saiyan arrogance. Now, you are mine!"

" _ **THUNDER SHOCK SURPRISE!**_ " yelled Tien.

"What?!"

Without any warning, Tien shot out a bright, yellowish beam of pure electricity at Okara, shocking the saiyan. The Crane Hermit kept this current going as he froze Okara in mid-air.

"Y-You… were faking i-it?!" yelled Okara as he was being severely electrocuted.

"Something like that!" exclaimed Tien in response.

"N-No… that was exactly what you were doing! You faked everything… looking like you wanted to actually fight me in hand-to-hand combat… clumsily switching up your battle strategy like an inexperienced fool… that was all a façade! A trick used to catch me off guard while I was charging at you, not at full power, so you could trap me with this technique! You're… you're a genius!"

"Hmph. Figuring out my entire plan within seconds of being tricked… in your own right, you are an excellent tactician yourself, Okara," responded Tien.

"However… even though y-you've got me completely immobile with this att-attack… it seems that you have overlooked something."

"And what would that be?"

"The effect this attack has on me and the difference in our power," answered Okara. "You may have trapped me in this electricity, but you have gained almost no ground on me in this fight. While performing this attack, it seems that it makes you immobile as well. Added on to that is the fact that I'm taking almost no damage. If I were on your level of power, this might damage me… however, currently, I'm much stronger than you are. We are stuck in a deadlock, where you are not doing any damage to me, and me to you. The only thing you're accomplishing by going through with this plan is wasting your ki."

"That is where you are wrong," said Tien with a smirk. "You see, you have not considered my other two arms!"

Okara suddenly realized what Tien was talking about. _He's… he's right! He's only been using his two main arms to perform this attack! With his two spare ones, he can…!_

The old master, while shooting a current of electricity out of his two main arms, began raising his other pair up behind him. The arms then curved and met each other, forming a triangle with his two extra hands. A yellow light then began to form in the hole made by the triangle. Fear ran through Okara's body as he felt the immense amount of power build up inside Tien's hands.

"With this… Your power will decrease immensely! The winner of this battle will be me!"

" _ **SHIN… KIKOHOOO!**_ "

An incredibly powerful beam of yellow ki shot directly at Okara as he was being held in place, injuring him badly. It hurt much more than it should have, as it multiplied Tien's own power greatly. Okara couldn't defend well against the attack, as the Thunder Shock Surprise that was keeping him still prevented him from powering up and raising his guard anymore than it already was. The saiyan was stuck in a large predicament.

After the blast had hit Okara, he was in great pain, but it hadn't hurt him too badly. Based on the similarities between this attack and Izumi's final blast during the Tournament, he thought it was over. However, he had underestimated his opponent yet again.

" _ **KI…!**_ "

The next blast hit the saiyan like a truck. He didn't expect this one, so it hurt him much more than the last. _What?!_ thought Okara to himself. _There's more?!_

" _ **KO…!**_ "

Another one struck him hard. Although Okara was ready this time, it still hurt him so much. The saiyan was in a world of pain. Yet, the onslaught kept going.

" _ **HO!**_ "

The blasts repeated for what felt like forever. Tien kept chanting the phrase, shouting it over and over as these powerful blasts struck Okara again and again. The saiyan, however, was not going to give up. His pure willpower kept him conscious, as he took these blasts with the might of a true warrior.

The barrage finally stopped. Tien was left standing on the concrete-tiled floor seemingly alone, surrounded on all sides by smoke. He panted heavily, deeply inhaling in and out. _It is finished…_ he thought to himself.

… _but where is Okara?_

As he took many deep breaths, he looked around, searching for a ki. He could barely feel anything.

"Okara! Are you okay?!" he yelled out to the smoke, frantically.

He was worried to his stomach for a while. There was no response, and only the sound of silence was heard. But then, something responded.

"I'm… I'm still here! I'm… going to defeat you! I'll win, no matter what! I _will_ be trained by you!"

Okara's ki shot out of the smoke. It looked and felt similar to a powerful, erupting volcano, as it shot up into the infinite sky as a pillar of pure energy. There stood the saiyan, slouching and covered with injuries, but with more ki than ever before. He was covered in his own super-saiyan ki, and a second aura wrapped around it that had a pale-yellow color.

"You… you didn't watch the Tournament, did you? Because if you did, you would've known that I absorb energy! All of those blasts you shot at me, I've absorbed! My body might be broken, and my muscles might be torn, but now, thanks to you, I'm overflowing with energy!" screamed Okara.

"In…Incredible," muttered Tien in disbelief.

Tien had little ki left in him but was physically fine, yet on the other hand, Okara was filled with an intense, powerful ki but was physically broken. Their situations were entirely reversed. The old master noticed, however, that even if the saiyan used his ki to move his body, in return, he might suffer serious, permanent injuries. The Crane Hermit needed to end the fight.

"Okara," called out Tien. "We should stop this, now. If you continue in any sort of way, there is a chance your body will be injured permanently. Even after eating a sensu bean, you could still suffer long-lasting damage. You have fought with great skill and honor, and you are welcome to train at my dojo anytime you-"

"NO! NO, DAMN IT!" shouted Okara at the top of his lungs. "We're ending this battle for real! Not on some technicality bullshit! I'm going to win… ON MY TERMS!"

Tien was absolutely astounded. Even if he was a saiyan, he should almost be passed out by now, yet there he is standing and yelling with all of his might. But he also didn't want to escalate this any further. In his mind, there was only one solution.

"Alright, Okara. We shall end it through battle. However…"

"We shall finish it with one, final attack."

The saiyan looked surprised that Tien even agreed with him, but he took the offer. He watched as his old opponent formed his hands into a triangle yet again, charging up his signature technique. So, Okara followed and charged up his own.

With the remaining, non-torn muscles he had in his arms, Okara put most of his overflowing ki into the palms of his two hands, which surrounded this ki on two sides. The ki formed a sphere that grew bigger and bigger the more energy he put into it.

And then they were both finished charging. They released their attacks at the exact same time, each fighter shouting the attack's name.

" _ **KIKOHO!**_ "

" _ **BOREAN BLAST!**_ "

The attacks clashed. A yellow light filled the entire arena as the beams pushed against each other, fighting a battle of dominance. Yet, the winner was decided from when each fighter even charged up their attacks. Tien didn't want to push Okara any more than he had to; he just couldn't.

Okara's beam swiftly swallowed up the Crane Hermit's beam as it went barreling towards the old man. Tien knew it was going to hurt, he prepared for it by tensing up his body and closing his eyes; yet, he didn't even feel a thing.

The saiyan's beam, as it was about to hit Tien, suddenly swerved upwards and instead soared into the evening sky.

Tien opened his eyes, realizing what had happened. His opponent, Okara, was chuckling.

"Haha… so… how did I do?"

Everyone watching was silent. Every student attending the dojo held their breaths, waiting for their master to tell everyone Okara's results.

"Izumi! Sensu!" shouted Tien.

Izumi leaped down right next to the battered saiyan. She plopped a green bean in his mouth while also holding him. He almost immediately felt better. The saiyan stood up straight as he swallowed the bean, and then powered up, feeling much stronger.

"Hey! Take it easy, dude! Like the old-man said, the fight might've hurt ya real bad!" advised Izumi.

"No… I feel incredible! I don't have a scratch on me!" exclaimed Okara happily.

"As I expected," said Tien. "You are incredibly gifted Okara… I have only known a couple other warriors that are as gifted as you."

"However, as for your results… your arrogance blinded you during the fight. You could have ended up winning this skirmish without taking the damage you did, and when I gave you the free offer to train here, you refused, and instead prioritized this meaningless fight over that chance."

Everyone spectating became silent, fearing the worst. Even Izumi yelled out in protest.

"C'MON, GIVE OKARA A BREAK, TIEN! HE'S BEEN THROUGH HELL AND BACK!"

"You did not let me finish, Izumi," stated Tien with a smile. "Okara. Although you have made these mistakes, I understand it is in your nature as a saiyan to be constantly arrogant and battle-oriented. Those flaws can be corrected. Your fighting-prowess and tenacity, your vast amounts of skills and techniques, and your honor… they all lead me to one conclusion. Okara, you have passed the test, and you are the first ever saiyan to do so. Train here whenever you please."

The arena erupted in applause and cheers as everyone supported Okara's acceptance. Izumi hugged the saiyan, actually lifting him off of the ground as she cheered him on with the rest of the crowd.

Tien laughed a little, himself, in response to the vast amounts of applaud for the saiyan. "Alright, alright. Everyone calm down," he said to his students. After a brief murmur in the audience, it became silent. "As I was saying, Okara, you may train here whenever you like. You may live here if you please as well, as it is what most of my students do. If you do choose to live here, I believe-"

And then Tien suddenly stopped talking. All of a sudden, he stopped in the middle of his sentence and just stood still, staring at Okara with wide eyes. His expression suddenly changed from being welcoming and happy to fear and confusion.

"Uh… Tien? You okay?" asked Izumi, wondering what was going on.

Instead of responding, the old man's eyes turned white, like they did during his fight with Okara. However, instead of staying white, they flashed in and out of being white and normal. The three eyes repeatedly turned white and back to normal at an incredibly fast rate. At the same time, Tien held his head with both of his head, and screamed as he knelt to the ground.

"Tien?!" yelled out Izumi, afraid for her master. She looked on at the Crane Hermit, as he was now moving erratically as he clutched his head and yelled out in agony.

Okara looked to Izumi, who was now clutching his arm. "Could this be another test?" asked the saiyan, who was now nervous as well.

"No! It can't be… Tien wouldn't do…this!"

"Then what the hell is going on?!"

"I DON'T FUCKING KN-"

"O…OKARA!" yelled out Tien in pain as he reached out to the saiyan. He could barely make out his words. "PL-PLEASE, RUN!"

The saiyan didn't heed the old man's instructions. He looked as if he were in pain, and Okara just couldn't risk Tien dying. He was going to stay and make sure he was okay. But…

After shouting out those last words, Tien's eyes stopped glowing. They closed as he stopped yelling and continued kneeling on the ground, motionless. It was as if he were sleeping.

But that changed very quickly.

Tien's eyes shot open, and his expression changed once again. This time, his eyes weren't glowing at all, and instead of being in a sleep-like state, he now looked incredibly dazed and angry.

The Crane Hermit yelled once more, but this time it was different; this time, he made it seem he was in immense physical pain. His right arm clutched his left as it went completely limp, and he yelled out again in pain.

He fell down to the floor and pounded the ground. Then, he spoke.

"DAMN YOU… YOU… FILTHY SAIYAN!"

"What?!" stated Okara, utterly confused and in shock. He looked at Izumi for an answer, but she didn't have one. The girl simply looked on in fear, trying to analyze the situation as best she could.

"Why… why would you call me that?" asked Okara.

"YOU DARE…?!" yelled out Tien, who was overwhelmed with complete anger. "YOU DARE MOCK ME?!"

"What the hell's going on with you?! I didn't do anything wrong, you just-"

"DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG?! YOU… YOU TRASH! YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID! YOU AND YOUR SAIYAN FRIEND!" Tien screamed out as he gestured next to Okara. He pointed to the left side of Okara, yet, no one was there. The only person to his side was Izumi, and she was on his right side.

"What the hell…? What did I do, then?!"

Tien just seemed to get more angry as Okara kept on talking. "DO I HAVE TO SPELL IT OUT FOR YOU, YOU IMBECILE?! YOU… YOU TORE OFF MY LEFT ARM…" 

The old master's left arm was still there, but he was clutching it as if it weren't. It went limp.

"AND YOU KILLED _HIM_! HE… HE WAS MY BEST FRIEND…"

"AND HE DIED BECAUSE OF YOU! YOU MURDERED _CHIAOTZU_ , IN COLD BLOOD! I'LL… I'LL MAKE YOU PAY! I'LL MAKE YOU SUFFER FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE!"

 _Chiaotzu?! Who the hell is Chiaotzu?_ Okara thought to himself. However, Izumi seemed to know something about the name. She gasped as Tien said it, as if she had some idea of what was going on. Once she had figured it out, she began to yell at him.

"TIEN! PLEASE, SNAP OUT OF IT! THIS… THIS IS ALL IN YOUR HEAD, TIEN!"

However, the Crane Hermit ignored the girl as if she didn't exist. He then, with only his right arm, began charging his signature attack. He formed his right hand into a semi-triangle, and built an immense energy into his hand.

"Chiaotzu… I won't let your sacrifice be in vain, _I promise_!" Tien said to himself.

"Either this saiyan goes down right now… Or I'll be… with you again soon, Chiaotzu! RAAAAAAAGHHHHHH!"

Okara had no idea what was happening. He didn't know who this Chiaotzu was, and he didn't know what had happened to Tien's arm. However, he knew one thing…

 _If Tien doesn't stop charging his life ki into this one attack, things are going to get bad!_ Okara thought to himself. _With the little ki he has left and based on how much ki he's building up right now… if he fires_ _ **that**_ _at me… We'll both be dead by the end of it! That blast has the potential to kill me, and not only that, but he's using_ _ **all**_ _of his life ki! If he fires that, he'll have nothing left! He'll die if I don't stop it! But how…_

"WE HAVE TO HIT HIM SUPER HARD ON THE HEAD!" yelled Izumi at Okara.

"What?!"

"YOU HAVE THOSE INVISIBLE ATTACKS, DON'T YOU?! HIT HIM REALLY HARD ON THE HEAD!"

Okara looked at Izumi, and then turned his look to Tien. Izumi's plan seemed horrible, but… it was the only plan they had.

"Shit… Here, goes nothing!" said Okara.

As quickly as he could muster, Okara spread out the ki of life he had stored in him in Tien's direction. The saiyan concentrated as hard as he could.

Tien had fully charged up his blast. He then began lifting his right arm, and pointed it straight at Okara and Izumi.

"NOW…! _**KIKO-**_ "

Tien bent over as the force from Okara's invisible attack pushed his head down. The saiyan concentrated all of the ki of life that he had mustered out of his body into the attack that hit the Crane Hermit in the head. Okara didn't take Izumi's advice lightly of "hitting him really hard in the head."

The students were all silent. Most of them had fled the scene, unsure and afraid of what was going on. The ones that stayed, however, didn't say a word. The blast in Tien's hand faded away as the old teacher absorbed his life essence back into his body. Okara sighed in relief. Tien, however, was not moving from his bent over position.

After a minute of nothing happening, Tien stood back up. The anger and bitterness in his eyes had gone, and he looked completely normal, as if nothing had happened.

"Um… I apologize… I think I might have lost track of what I was saying, as ridiculous as that sounds!"

The Crane Hermit chuckled a little bit as everyone around him just stared at him in fear. After realizing that everyone else was silent, he sported a look of concern.

"Hm? What is wrong, everyone? Just a second ago, you all were cheering and applauding for Okara. Why do you all look so scared?"

Okara was about to answer by telling Tien everything that had happened, but just before he could say a word, Izumi interrupted him.

"It's… it's really nothing! They all just wanted to be polite and be quiet while you were talking! You're imagining all the scared stuff, right everyone?"

Izumi forcefully gestured at everyone to start acting happy while hiding it from Tien himself. After a couple seconds, everyone obliged and began to laugh and cheer very nervously. Tien looked around him, surprised to see everyone going back to normal, and then smiled himself. He laughed, rubbing the back of his head.

"Ah! I see. I thank you all for being polite, but if you may, I must ask you to keep quiet once more. I think I remember what I was about to say to Okara."

The saiyan wasn't having it at all. Okara felt like he had to tell Tien, and that it wasn't right to keep the truth from him. However, when he looked at Izumi right before he was about to tell the Crane Hermit, she looked back forcefully with a face that strongly warned him not to tell Tien. After debating with himself in his mind whether or not he should do it, he finally put his trust into Izumi and decided not to.

Tien continued to speak to Okara. "Yes, I remember now what I was going to say. But firstly, would you like to live here, Okara? It seems to me that you do not have anywhere else to go."

"…Yes… I was planning on living here," stated Okara bitterly, trying to hold back his temptation to tell Tien what had just transpired.

"Perfect. You will be staying in room 13-C. I think you will find it very comfortable and full of free space. I will tell you personally tomorrow what I will be teaching you, in order for you to catch up with the rest of the students, of course. In the mean-time, you will be able to use and explore the entirety of the dojo as you please. Do you have any questions?" explained Tien.

Okara glanced at Izumi one last time, and she glanced back with the exact same expression she used before. The saiyan sighed. "No, no I don't."

"Great!" said Tien, happily. "If you change your mind about having questions, I will be available on the first floor of the tall building known as a pagoda that you see in front of you. I am confident that Akimasa will be able to show you to your room."

Tien looked around, realizing that Akimasa wasn't present. He began to call out his name, when Izumi, once again, interrupted him.

"No! Please, let me show Okara around! Akimasa's a wimp, and I'm pretty sure _everybody else…!_ " Izumi glared at the crowd around her, gesturing to them to not tell Tien about the previous incident. "…doesn't know Okara enough to show him around. We're already, like, best buds, so I think I'll be able to do it the best!"

Tien looked surprised. "Alright, then. Go ahead."

The Crane Hermit began walking towards the pagoda, but then stopped to say something.

"And Okara, one last thing: Welcome to the Crane Dojo. I hope you find what you are seeking here," Tien said with a smile. "That is all."

As the old teacher began walking to the pagoda, Izumi started to drag Okara into the side buildings. "C'mon, Okara! We've gotta see your room! I know you're gonna love it!" she said with a carefree smile.

However, once they got out of the arena and into Okara's actual room, she slammed the door shut. She then slowly turned towards the saiyan.

"Okay, I know how weird it seemed, but…"

"Do you Izumi?! Do you really?" asked Okara, grumpily. "Why didn't you tell Tien? Shouldn't he be able to know the fact that he almost killed his new guest and his strongest student?!"

"ALRIGHT! Look, I get it, but… Like, if you told him then and there, he'd act all apologetic and sad in front of everybody else. I just… I just hate seeing him like that," said Izumi.

"What?!"

"Just… UGH! Okay… just sit down."

The girl plopped down, cross legged onto the wooden, dojo-styled floor. She gestured Okara to sit down with her.

Okara crossed his arms and grunted. "Whatever this explanation is, it better be good."

"Well… you're like, never satisfied, so it probably won't be. But, at least it's an explanation, right?" responded Izumi.

"Are you kidding?"

"Just… do me favor and strap yourself in," said Izumi. "'Cause it's gonna be one long-ass story."

o – o – o – o – o

 _Okara has come an incredibly long way, but he has finally been accepted into the Crane Dojo! However… at what cost?_

 _What happened with Tien Shinhan, the Crane Hermit? Why did he act so maliciously towards Okara? Why was he clutching his left arm?_

 _Who is Chiaotzu?_

 _Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter of Dragon Ball Newcomers!_


	14. 10: Saiyans, Namekians, and Family

"So… that's pretty much it!" Izumi exclaimed. She then expelled out a relieved sigh as she laid down on one of the pillows on the bed in the room, putting both of her hands behind her head. "It sure took a while, but that's the run-down!" It was early nighttime, around 9 P.M.

Okara was utterly baffled. "Wait… hold on…"

Izumi glanced at her confused friend, and then let out a sigh of annoyance. "What…? What're you confused about now?"

Okara then looked back at her with frustration. "You're laying a lot on me, you know?! First you tell me that Kakarot's brother, Raditz, had arrived on earth to tell Kakarot, who had hit his head on a rock as a child, that he was a saiyan! And then, after that, apparently Kakarot murders him while sacrificing himself?!"

"Yeah, from what everyone's told me, that's it. You've pretty much nailed it."

"This… this is too much…"

The saiyan still couldn't believe it. The little baby that had bumped into his pod, all those years ago, betrayed his own race… Izumi was simply feeding him too much information at one time. "So… so then how the hell does this relate to Tien Shinhan?"

Izumi shot up. "Oh yeah! I kinda forgot we were talkin' about that! Yeah, Tien was like, his rival at first. But then, eventually he warmed up to Goku and became his pal. And remember, his name is Goku, not Kakarot."

"Yes… Just like me, the people of this planet changed his name. I remember now." Okara thought over what Izumi had said, and then realized the new material Izumi had just given him. "Wait, Goku was friends with Tien?! The Crane Hermit?!"

"I did just say that, didn't I?" responded Izumi.

"How did they even meet?!"

"UGH, do I have to repeat _everything_ I say?!" yelled out Izumi, running out of patience. "They were rivals at first, due to their masters being rivals! So, basically, Tien, ever since he was a kid, trained under this horrible, abusive master named Master Shen. He was also the Crane Hermit at the time. Shen was like, long time rivals with Goku's master, Master Roshi, and so naturally, Goku and Tien were super competitive with each other. But, eventually, Tien broke out of Shen's manipulative control and became good buddies with Goku. There, is that a good enough explanation for ya?"

"Okay… I think I've got it. Alright, so how does this all tie in with Chiaotzu, whoever the hell he is?" asked Okara.

"Yeah, about that. The only other student training under Shen was Chiaotzu, and he did so with Tien. So, they were pretty much instant BFF's from the start, as they only had each other when learning stuff under Shen."

"So, Chiaotzu was Tien's childhood best friend?"

"Yup!" responded Izumi enthusiastically.

"So then what the fuck happened to Chiaotzu?! Tien… he was screaming to me during our fight and telling me that I killed him… What happ- Did saiyans kill Chiaotzu?!" asked Okara, suddenly comprehending what had occurred with Tien's best friend.

"Well… you're kinda right. But the end of that story isn't as bad as it seems. You see, right as Raditz died, he sent out his location to the other two known remaining saiyans in the universe at the time."

"Who were they?"

"Some guy named Nappa, and… well… Vegeta."

"VEGETA?!" yelled Okara. "AS IN, _THE_ PRINCE VEGETA?!"

"Yeah, yeah. I know how crazy it sounds, but it's true. Before the Second Saiyan Invasion, for all we knew, there were no other saiyans alive other than Vegeta, Goku, and Nappa, who was Vegeta's bodyguard. So, once Vegeta and Nappa received Raditz's message, they went straight to Earth in their pods, with the intent to destroy it."

"So then how does Earth still exist? Vegeta and Nappa would've easily taken out all the earthlings on this planet!"

"Simple. Goku beat both of them up," answered Izumi.

"What?! But you said Goku died as a result of his sacrifice to kill his brother!"

"Yeah, well, Earth has this thing called the Dragon Balls. There are a total of 7 of them scattered all around the world, and if you gather all of them up, you get to make any wish. Our heroes gathered them all up and wished for Goku to be resurrected."

"That's… crazy…"

"No kiddin'! But, when you wish for somethin', this magical dragon appears, and so the wish can't be anything that isn't in his power, whatever that means. The Dragon Balls have a limit, is what I'm saying."

"What happened then?! When Vegeta and Nappa arrived on Earth… how did that go?"

"Well… not too pretty, to put it simply…"

o – o – o – o – o

Tien was pissed.

After witnessing his best friend, Chiaotzu, sacrifice himself by blowing himself up on Nappa, only to see Nappa escape unscathed… he was full of absolute rage.

That horrible, evil, monster of a saiyan was standing in front of him, smiling… he was mocking him! Tien couldn't allow this to happen… Nappa had to pay!

"This one's for you… Chiaotzu!"

With a bone chilling war cry and only one arm left, Tien charged straight at Nappa. He didn't care if he had no chance or if he was going to die. The saiyan was going to suffer!

"All I need is one arm to beat you to death, saiyan!"

"Hahaha!" laughed Nappa. "Those are some fightin' words, coming out of a weakling like you! Come, show me what you got!"

The two clashed, with Tien being the aggressor. The three-eyed warrior fought fiercely, using all of his energy to focus on hitting his opponent in his vital areas.

"Not bad," remarked the Namekian, Piccolo.

"Just look at him go!" exclaimed Krillin with surprise.

However, although it looked like Tien had Nappa on the defensive, the saiyan was only toying with his opponent. Tien backed Nappa right next to a side of a mountain. He punched it, causing the entire column to crumble, but he missed the saiyan. After easily evading Tien's attack, he landed a huge punch into his gut. As this vicious blow stunned Tien, the saiyan then proceeded to land another devastating hit onto his back, causing Tien to crumble to the floor, incapacitated.

"To be frank, that was actually impressive, tri-clops!" exclaimed Nappa. "You almost scratched me! Now…" Nappa turned his attention towards the Namekian, the half-saiyan child cowering in fear, and the bald midget. "Now it's time for the main course!"

"Just hurry up already," commanded the Prince of all saiyans, Vegeta, on the sidelines. "Kill these runts quickly so we get our wish and finally blow this damned planet to smithereens."

As Piccolo and Krillin stepped up to challenge the saiyan, the son of Goku, Gohan went to Tien to make sure he was still alive. He was still very conscious however, and even more angry.

"Uhm… Mister Tien?" asked Gohan nervously.

Tien wasn't having any of it. He was supposed to be a warrior, a powerful martial artist. Yet, he was beaten by the murderer of his best friend with two, simple blows. He made up his mind.

The half-dead Tien stood up on his feet, scaring the small half-saiyan boy. With his one remaining hand, he formed a half-triangle and began charging his final attack.

"Chiaotzu… I won't let your sacrifice be in vain, I promise!" Tien muttered to himself. The energy he built was incredible. Once it reached a certain point, both Piccolo and Krillin could feel it, and soon, they both realized what was happening.

"Krillin! Back off!" ordered Piccolo. In response, Krillin nodded, and they both flew away from the area.

"Huh?!" yelled out Nappa in confusion.

"What's this, now?" wondered Prince Vegeta.

"Either this saiyan goes down right now… Or I'll be… with you again soon, Chiaotzu! RAAAAAAAGHHHHHH!"

And with that scream, Tien released all of his life energy into Nappa. An incredibly large flash of light appeared, blinding all those who were near its radius. However, it soon ended.

Tien stood with his hand positioned in Nappa's direction, and where Nappa was, there was smoke. That was, until the smoke cleared.

There floated Nappa in mid-air, full of scratches but still undamaged. "Well… that wasn't half bad either!" he exclaimed.

Krillin was horrified. "It didn't have any effect!"

"It's like… nothing can stop him!" stated Piccolo in awe of Nappa's ghastly power.

Tien, all out of life energy and normal ki, was thoroughly defeated. With his last, remaining morsels of strength, he got out the words, "You… bastard…" before collapsing onto the floor.

o – o – o – o – o

"Wow…" said Okara, being completely awed at what he had heard. "So… that's why Tien-"

"That's why Tien freaked out, yes. Any more questions?" said Izumi impatiently.

"And then they resurrected everyone with the Dragon Balls, right?"

"Well, that's kinda an even longer story, and I really don't have the patience to explain, so…" Izumi thought to herself for a second. "So pretty much, Goku and crew decided to go to Namek since after Piccolo's death, the Dragon Balls didn't work anymore."

"Wait, wha-"

"That's also a really long story. Namek was also a different planet back then. So, Vegeta also happened to go to Namek at the same time the Z fighters went, and also Frieza was there too! It was real crazy!"

"WAIT, FRIEZA?! AS IN THE GALACTIC-"

"Yeah, the Galactic Tyrant or whatever. Anyways, Goku and crew kinda teamed up with Vegeta to kill Frieza. Then, after that, Vegeta was transported to Earth where he banged Shorts's grandmother, Bulma, and then the Saiyan Prince was forced to stay on Earth because of his son and because a bunch of killer robot teenagers threatened to blow it up. Also this bug monster named Cell, but that's besides the point. Ya got all that?"

"NO, IZUMI!" exclaimed Okara furiously. "I, LITERALLY, DIDN'T GET ANY OF THAT."

"WELL, I'LL EXPLAIN IT TO YA LATER! JEEZ! All you gotta know now is about how Vegeta eventually became allies with Goku after he tried to blow up Earth, and that Vegeta and his buddy, Nappa, killed Tien and his friend, Chiaotzu. Alright?"

"Alright…" said Okara bitterly. "But what do you think triggered the old man? Do you think it was just his old age?"

"Well, sorta." Izumi pondered about the incident for a few minutes. "Honestly… no offense to you, but I think you kinda triggered him as well. For like, existing."

"What?"

"Look, think about it. You kinda beat him in that fight, as he was _very_ low on ki. You're also genetically a saiyan with saiyan armor. I really think that the situation was similar enough to his traumatic past, and so that's why he went berserk."

"Oh… interesting," stated Okara. "Wait a second… so then what happened to Chiaotzu?"

"He blew himself up…?" responded Izumi. "Whadya mean?"

"Well, you said that they all got resurrected eventually, right?"

"Yeah…?"

"So then why isn't Chiaotzu here, now? Did he die of old age? Now that I think about it… how old is Tien, even?"

"Oof, okay, this is gonna get a bit messy," Izumi stated reluctantly. "Alright, let's start off with the easy stuff. Tien is 82."

"EIGHTY-TWO?!"

"Yeah…? What's so surprisin' about that?"

"How does he maintain his form?!" asked Okara frantically. "He looks about 60, considering how muscular he is."

"Honestly… that's a really good question. Huh!" Izumi looked surprised. "I never really thought about it. Wow, now that I think about it, that's really weird."

The girl thought about it for a couple minutes before realizing that they were sidetracking. "But, that doesn't matter! Alright, to answer your question, I have no clue. But, to your other question… Oh boy, where do I begin…"

"What? What's so hard about telling me why Chiaotzu isn't here?"

"Yeah, well… you're right about him being… well, not alive. I didn't know him, personally. I've never met him, but I've heard plenty of stories about 'im. But…"

"But?" asked Okara impatiently.

"Alright. So, there was disease a long, long time ago that nearly resulted in Goku's death. Yeah, _the_ Goku. It was… really potent, and was given the nickname, The Heart Virus."

"Heart Virus, huh…?"

"Yep, that's it. Bulma made a cure for it, saving Goku's life at the time. But it came back, and oh boy, did it come back."

"Hm? I don't get it," stated Okara casually. "If you guys found a cure for the disease, how did it come back? Isn't a cure supposed to stop it permanently?"

"Yeah, that was originally the case. But here's the catch," responded Izumi. "It, like, adapted to the cure. For a time, there was an outbreak of the Heart Virus disease because Bulma's previous cure stopped affecting it. It took almost 2 months before she made a new cure, but there were so, so many casualties because of it. And, unluckily, one of the first few people that were infected with this evolved Heart Virus was…"

"Chiaotzu?"

"Yeah, you got it. I don't know the full details, but… for some reason, after Chiaotzu died because of the disease, Tien became… like really, _really_ upset."

"How so?" queried Okara.

"I think… I think he became depressed. Like really depressed. Apparently, he shut _literally_ everyone out. He like, meditated in this cave for so long. When his friends needed him the most, he wouldn't answer their call. He didn't even help in the Saiyan Invasion."

"The Saiyan Invasion?"

"Yeah. Basically, apparently, there were a LOT more saiyans that were alive other than Goku and Vegeta. Those saiyans and their descendants eventually gathered together by using their pods and scouters as communicators. Once they learned about Vegeta's family being on Earth, they had to come. However, once they saw that there were lifeforms other than saiyans living on Earth… well… it didn't look too good for our heroes. There were a whole lot of casualties, and what made it even worse was that it took place during the Heart Virus outbreak. The saiyans came at literally the worst possible time."

"That's… horrible."

"Yeah, sure is. Eventually though, after eventually defeating the saiyans, Earth's government and the Z fighters agreed that the best solution was to domesticate the saiyans. They didn't have anywhere to go, and if we just let them run rampant, they would terrorize the universe. So instead, we let them form their own villages while Capsule Corp. eventually developed a serum that would suppress their saiyan instincts and permanently remove their tails. Everyone in the villages have to be injected, like, every year now."

"Oh…" said Okara, not knowing how to feel.

"Also, with the green guys being on Earth… you know they're called Namekians, right?"

"Yeah, yeah… like, Ashik and Tyriko, right?"

"Yep, those guys. They're here because of an incident that happened on Namek right before the Saiyan Invasion. It resulted in their planet being destroyed, for like, the second time," said Izumi.

"What? What caused their planet's destruction?"

"Hehe… get this: No one knows! Not even the Namekians!"

"What?!" asked Okara.

"Yeah, it's really weird! Apparently, the douchebag that destroyed their planet had like, mind powers or something, because somehow… Literally _everyone_ forgot about why! It's crazy!"

"I doubt that's the reason. What would the villain have to gain from that? Where even is the villain now?"

"Yeah, you're kinda right to doubt it. It's really sketchy… but all we know for sure is that Piccolo…"

"Do you mean the earth-bound Namekian who was killed by Nappa?"

"Yeah, that guy. He's also the guy that trained Gonkuro and Shorts for their entire lives."

"What?! The Namekian from the story?!" yelled Okara.

"I know! Crazy, huh? Anyways, Piccolo asked Dende, the Namekian Guardian of Earth, to gather the Dragon Balls. He then wished for everyone on Namek to be transported to Earth, while he would be transported to Namek, alone, to deal with the threat. And after that, the rest is history. No one knows. Everyone presumed Piccolo was dead, since Namek exploded and he was nowhere to be found, so we had a whole big funeral for him. Oh yeah, and Chiaotzu too when he died."

"So, that's why Namekians exist on Earth? Because their home was destroyed?"

"Yeah, that and they were tired of having their home destroyed and having it brought back, so they just decided to stay on the planet where the strongest people in the universe lived. Pretty good deal, if ya ask me. They also helped the Z fighters when the Saiyan Invasion happened. If they weren't there to heal our guys and" explained Izumi.

"Interesting." 

"Anyways…" Izumi blinked twice, realizing that she sidetracked completely from what she was originally saying and had forgotten where she was. "…where did I…?"

"You were talking about Chiaotzu and how Tien became depressed over his death," stated Okara immediately.

"Oh yeah! Nice save! Yeah, so Tien wasn't too happy at all when Chiaotzu died. Ya think he would get over it at least a little after, like, a month, right?"

"Yeah, obviously," stated Okara.

"Welp, you're dead wrong! He took more than 5 years!"

"WHAT?!" blurted out Okara in shock.

"Yep. He became an actual hermit and became a recluse for at least 5 and a half years, meditating in a cave and not answering anyone's calls. He even stopped eating," said Izumi.

"That's way too long," stated Okara. "Are you sure there wasn't some other reason other than Chiaotzu's death?"

"If there is, I have no idea. Tien keeps really quiet about that period."

"And… and you said he stopped eating?! How did he survive? For five years?!"

"Well, he only stopped eating for half of that time. He meditated incredibly deeply, so he used only a fraction of a percent of his energy, conserving it so that he could last for a long time. Even so, after a freakin' year, conserving his energy didn't help him too much. He was completely starving, and he was just too depressed to go out of the cave and get some food."

"So then what the hell happened?!" asked Okara. "How did he recover? How did he get so strong?"

"That's an easy question. He let _Ma_ back into his li-"

Izumi's eyes opened wide once she had realized what she said. Then, she sighed and facepalmed. "Ah, shit."

"Who's this "Ma" you keep on mentioning?" asked Okara, aggressively attacking the subject. "Why are you always embarrassed about this person? Last time you blushed, and now you catch yourself in the act and facepalm!"

Needless to say, the saiyan was heavily intrigued in his friend's secrets, be it for better or worse.

"Look! That doesn't matter, okay! Just know that-"

"Are you two kids alright? I thought I heard some yelling in here, so I just want to make sure that both of you are okay," said a sweet, gentle voice as the door opened.

An elderly lady, around the same age as Tien, had entered the room. She wore a simple night-gown that was colored a light yellow-green, and had a bright red ribbon in her hair. She had dark blue eyes, but her most notable feature was her _large, cloud-like, dark-blue hair_.

As she saw Okara, she gasped. "Oh my! I've heard a lot of talk about you, young man, but I never would have thought that you'd look so intimidating!" Suddenly, she put her hand over her mouth. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to offend you, truly! I meant… that you were intimidating because of how handsome you were!" she said in recompense.

"T-Thank… you…?" said Okara.

"UGH, YOU'RE SO EMBARRASSING!" exclaimed Izumi, blushing.

"Oh my!" said the blue-haired lady. "Izumi darling, I didn't mean to make you look bad in front of your friend."

"L…Look! We're fine, okay! Nothing bad happened, so you can go now, Ma-"

Izumi's face turned completely red. "DAMN IT! FUCKIN' AGAIN!"

On the other hand, however, the lady's face turned from being shy to being completely filled with joy. "Izumi… You… You never told me that you think of me as your 'Ma'!" She then dropped her cane and ran straight into Izumi, hugging her.

"Oh, Izumi! You should've told me sooner!" the lady said as she kissed Izumi on the cheek multiple times. In response, the teenager's whole body seemed to turn red.

"OKAY, OKAY! SECRET'S OUT, ALRIGHT?! CAN YOU JUST PLEASE GET OFFA ME?!"

The lady let go of Izumi. "Alright! I love you, Izumi darling! Goodnight, you two!" the lady said as she walked out of the room. Izumi happened to be curled up into a ball on the floor with her face in her hands, still being completely red in color.

"So…" said Okara, awkwardly breaking the silence. "She's… your mother?"

"YES!" yelled out Izumi on the floor. "I MEAN… KIND OF! She's not my biological mom, if that's what you're wonderin'!"

"Oh… okay," said Okara in response. He had no idea what having a "mother" felt like, so he didn't know how to respond. He stayed silent for as long as she did. Neither of them talked for some time, until Izumi got out of her curled up position. She sat up on the floor in a cross-legged position, and took a deep breath. Then, she went back to normal.

"Alright… so yeah, I think of her as my mom. It's weird, I know."

"No, it's really not. I don't even know what either of my parents look like, and my foster family was made up of literal trees. Don't be embarrassed of your own family."

"Okay, I guess…" said Izumi.

"What's her name?"

"Launch. Her name's Launch."

"Ah. She seems too polite."

"Yeah, no kiddin'," stated Izumi. "But yeah, she was the only person Tien let back into his life."

"Let back?" wondered Okara. "What do you mean by that? Did he…?"

"Yeah, okay, so the deal with that is that it's complicated," explained Izumi. "You remember the whole deal with Vegeta and Nappa invadin' Earth a really long time ago?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, so… Launch really wanted to help Tien with that. They were really, really close friends at the time, and so she wanted to be with him when Vegeta came. Tien, as he does, rejected her, claiming that she wasn't strong enough to be even close to the saiyan prince. I mean… he was kinda right, but he was pretty harsh. So, they got into this, like, really huge argument. As a result, Launch left Tien and the Z fighters for a _very_ long time- she only came back when Tien began to starve in the cave, which was, like, more than 30 years later."

"Wow… That doesn't make any…"

"What?" asked Izumi. "How doesn't it make sense?"

"Well, it's just that… based on what I've seen of her, of course… I didn't think Launch would be able to hold that much of a grudge. She seems too nice to be angry enough to leave Tien for 30 years," stated Okara.

"OH YEAH! I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO TELL YOU!" yelled Izumi.

"What?"

"Yeah, so, Launch is kinda two people. It's weird."

"I don't get what you're saying," stated Okara bluntly. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

"She has a special case of Split Personality Disorder, ya see," explained Izumi. "Whenever she sneezes, she basically becomes someone else. I love both of her, but… one of her personalities… let's just say she's brutal when she's in her other alter ego."

"And by brutal, you mean…?"

"All you need to know is that her alter ego is nicknamed, "The Demon of the Crane Dojo" by the other students here. Just… make sure she doesn't sneeze for a while. I don't think her alter ego would like you very much, if I'm being honest," said Izumi.

"Alright…" said Okara. "So, is her alter ego still called Launch? Or does she have a different name?"

"Oh, we just call her Blonde Launch when referring to her in the same sentence as the other Launch, which we call Blue Launch. 'Cause whenever she sneezes, her hair changes from blue to blonde, or vice versa. Again, it's kinda weird."

"Oh…"

"But anyways, as ya could probably tell, it was Blonde Launch that had the argument with Tien and chose to leave him. I think that, while the memories of one Launch doesn't transfer to the other, their feelings about something usually stay constant for both. So, in this case, if Blonde Launch was hella pissed off at Tien and decided to leave him, Blue Launch would pretty much feel the same. So, that's how it happened for like, 30 years."

"I see. But… she came back?" asked Okara.

"Yeah. Again, even though Tien said some really, really questionable stuff to Launch before Vegeta arrived, she… she still loved him."

"Wait, what?!"

"Okay, I'm not, like completely sure, but…" Izumi leaned closer towards Okara, as if she were gossiping to him about something. "I'm pretty sure that Launch, and _especially_ Blonde Launch, likes Tien A LOT. I've never seen them kiss or anything, but based on all the stories they've told me and seeing Blonde Launch around him… after all those years, I'm, like, confident that she still has the hots for him. And when I say that, I don't just mean that she has a crush on him. It goes deep, dude. It's not as obvious with Blue Launch, cause she's nice to literally everyone, but remember how her feelings stay the same with her alter egos?" explained Izumi.

"Okay. I see what you're saying," stated Okara.

"Yeah, right?! So, she comes back to him, and she's the only person he lets in his life. Everyone else tried talking him out of his meditation: Yurin, his students, the other Z fighters… but he ignored everyone. Everyone except Launch, that is."

"Wow… so does that mean he reciprocates her feelings…?"

"It's really hard to tell," responded Izumi. "I'm debating on whether or not he thinks of her as a close friend, or what you're saying… but I really, really hope it's the latter! Tien can be very cold at times, so I don't really know."

"Alright."

"But anyways, yeah. She was the one that mainly brought him back. She fed him, washed his clothes, and actually got him back to training instead of just meditating! But, he was still kind of a butt. He still stayed in the cave for the longest time… until, well…"

"Until what?" asked Okara.

"You know, I'm not sure if this is true, but Launch said… it was because of me," explained Izumi. "Apparently, once he saw me for the first time, he came out of his cave in, like, a day to start trainin' me."

"Oh."

"Yeah. I only talked to him for what was like an hour. And then he just up and decided to get out of his cave to train me. Launch seemed just as confused as I was when he decided to do it. At that age, I didn't even know he was depressed, and so I just assumed he accepted me like any other student."

"How old were you?"

"Only 9. I was just a tiny orphan when he decided to train me. Ever since then, he's been trainin' me the most out of everyone. That's the main reason why I'm the strongest in the dojo. Out of everyone else, he does the most 1 on 1 trainin' with me! Akimasa gets whiny because he doesn't get as much attention, but that's just the truth."

"Hm. How odd."

"Yup! So that's basically the run-down on Tien's story and stuff! That's all I know at least. Got any questions?" asked Izumi.

"Just one," answered Okara with a smirk.

"What is it?"

"So… you think of Launch as your mother?"

"…Well, kind of, yeah."

"And you think she loves Tien, right?"

"…Yeah…?"

"So does that make Tien your fath-"

"I JUST REALIZED I'VE TOLD YOU WAY TOO MUCH!" Izumi exclaimed while standing up. "THAT'S IT FOR TONIGHT! SWEET DREAMS, DUDE!"

"But you didn't answer my-"

"SCREW YOUUU!" Izumi yelled as she continued to walk out of his room and into the corridor.

 _I guess that's a yes,_ thought Okara to himself as he got into his bed.

o – o – o – o – o

 _Finally, all is revealed! The reasons why saiyans reside on Earth, the reason why namekians are here… All of Okara's questions have been answered!_

 _But have they really?_

 _What really happened to Planet Namek, and what was the true fate of Piccolo?_

 _Why did Izumi, on sight, make Tien get out of his cave? What did he see in her?_

 _How will Okara get enough training to defeat Gonkuro before he has to fight him? What could he possibly do to get that much stronger?_

 _Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter of Dragon Ball Newcomers!_


End file.
